Going Home
by The Hobbit Ivy
Summary: Legolas and Alíana grow up together in modern Earth, but how will they adjust to their true world when the time comes to travel to Middle Earth? MS?, SemiAU, CHAPTER 13 UP
1. Boy in the woods

A/N: BRAND NEW STORY!!! Because the school year is winding down, I've been getting a bunch of story ideas, and I've been working on them like an orc is on my heels! So, yeah. Enjoy! Stuff...: SUMMARY: Legolas and Alíana grow up together in modern Earth, but how will they adjust to their true world when the time comes to travel to Middle Earth? RATING: PG-13 MAIN CHARACTERS: Liliana (Lily), Alíana (Alí), Legolas, Lauralin, and Elrohir. SETTING: Modern Earth TIME: WAY before the war of the ring  
  
Disclaimer: I own Alíana, Lauralin, and Lily. That's it. No more. Nada. Zilch. None. Nothing.  
  
It was mid April, and 5-year-old Alíana was playing on her wooden play set. It was a beautiful day outside; birds were singing, flowers blooming, and green grass sprung from the dead winter's grass that had been there for the past four months.  
  
"Weeee!" the girl squealed happily from the swing, her long blonde hair blowing in the wind behind her.  
  
"Alí! Be careful!" her pregnant mother, Lily called from a bench. Lily was sewing a cross-stitch pattern of leaves. Alí had always loved her mother, even though she was too young to appreciate her for who she really was.  
  
"I will, Ata!" the girl called back. Alí looked just like her mother, blue eyes sparkling and shimmering in the hot sun, her long straight blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, her flawless, childish, smooth skin. The girl's personality was so wonderful, too. Her teachers had noticed as well. Alí always shared, was never mean or harmful, and spoke politely to everybody. She was the brightest girl in her kindergarten class...  
  
And everybody still made fun of her... because of her ears. They were not round as a shell, as everybody's were, but came to a distinct point.  
  
Alí wasn't troubled about it. She had thought nothing of her appearance, because she was just like her mother. She was 'special as the flower', as her mother always told her.  
  
The flower was a single flower that her mother kept on her bedside table. The flower never died, and was as white as clouds, and the most fragrant thing that Ali had ever come across.  
  
"Alí! Where are you going?" her mother called to her, for Alí had stopped squealing and playing on the play set, and had clambered down gracefully onto the pebbled ground, and was walking toward the forest next to the house. "Alí?" her mother questioned. She stood up with growing difficulty, and walked over to put a hand on her daughter's shoulder.  
  
"Alí? Mani nae lle elea?" (What do you see?) Her mother whispered.  
  
"Hin," (a child) the girl replied, staring into the darkness.  
  
"Auta, tinuamin! Auta utue sen!" (Go, my daughter, go find them!) Her mother ordered. Lily knew that her daughter could see the child off in the distance, as could she, and in her condition, she knew that she could not get the child back here. The girl sensed the urgency in her mother's voice, and scampered into the darkness.  
  
Alí stopped at the end of the path, and then carried on walking into a clearing to find a boy with long blonde hair fanned out behind him. He looked unconscious. Alí said, nudging him with her hand. "Wake up! Wake up, boy!" Alí demanded. "Duna, saes!" (Rise, please!)  
  
"Sana ho sinome!" (Bring him here!) Her mother called. Alí picked him up with amazing strength for a 5-year-old and carried him in her arms to her mother.  
  
"He would not wake up," she informed her mother, who lifted the burden up from her daughter and laid the boy down on the wooden picnic table.  
  
Alí gasped in amazement as she took a good look at the boy. She hadn't taken a really good look at him, because it was really dark in the forest. Yes, she had seen the boy's figure, but she hadn't seen the features of him. He had pointed ears, like her! She laughed as she pointed at him. Her mother stared at her, to hush her.  
  
"Mani, Ata?" (What, mommy?) She asked. "He has pointed ears, like us! I'm happy!" she smiled, tugging at her mother's sleeve.  
  
"Uma, (yes) but, Hush! We must get him inside! Can you carry him again?" Her mother answered her, placing a hand on Alí's back.  
  
Again, Alí picked up the boy and carried him easily through the open kitchen door. The boy had started to slip back into the world, his eyes opening slightly and he groaned softly.  
  
"Hello, my name is Alí. What's yours?" she asked sweetly, as she put him on the couch and sat on the other side of it.  
  
The boy rubbed his head. He looked no older than Alí, only about 5 or 6, and his long pin straight platinum blonde hair was mussed up, and had leaves sticking out here and there. "My name is... Legolas," the boy replied groggily, before falling back on the pillows, his eyes slipping out of focus, but remaining open.  
  
Her mother came through the door, then. "Alíana, has he said anything?" she questioned her daughter.  
  
"Nothing, except that his name is Legolas." The girl replied. "He looks nice, and he has pointy ears. Is he like me?"  
  
"Yes, very much, my child. Now hurry and run upstairs and change for bed." Her mother told her. "It is getting late." She cautiously planted a kiss on her daughter's light head and beckoned her to the stairs.  
  
"Yes, Ata," she said, hugging her mother around her huge middle and running back upstairs.  
  
"Legolas, Legolas," Lily whispered to the boy.  
  
Legolas' crystal blue eyes focused, and rested on Lily. He looked a bit frightened, but relaxed when she spoke. "Nae il gorga amin, naa amin mellon," (do not fear me, I am a friend).  
  
"Amin nae il gorga lle... Manke naa amin?" (I do not fear you, where am I?) the boy replied in the same language.  
  
"Lle naa il e'Arda ai'ner, lle naa yassen i'ere Quessir sinome. Lle naa varna," (You are not in Middle Earth anymore, you are with the only Elves here. You are safe.) The mother answered. "Ya naa lle atar?" (Who is your father?)  
  
"Thranduil, amin naa ho ere hen," (Thranduil, I am his only child.) The boy replied, looking up at the older elf above him.  
  
"Quel, san' ta naa sha'coiasira," (Good, then it is almost time.) The mother looked thoughtful.  
  
"Coiasira ten'mani?" (Time for what?) Legolas looked curious.  
  
"Coiasira a'auta eska," (Time to go home.) The mother looked happy. "Rest. We will look after you here." she said.  
  
"Quel," (Good.) Legolas yawned cutely, then lay back on the pillows, and his eyes slipped out of focus again.  
  
A/n: like it? I hope you do! That little bit about the name was from PotC...ah, I love Will Turner! ~dreams of orli~... If you *do* like it, then I have three more chapters waiting to be posted! So yeah... Well, I require...um... three reviews for another post! Yeah. Three. Or, I'll... Um, not give you more e-cookies! Yeah, that's it! No E- Cookies unless I get three reviews.  
  
:) ~Ivy 


	2. Waffle War!

A/N: Wheehee! I got FOUR reviews! *dances* Well... as I promised:... E- COOKIES FOR EVERYBODY! *passes out Legolas E-Cookies* Enjoy the snack while reading the next chappy!  
  
And before any of you get confuzzled, the little sister's name isn't Laurelin, like my beta changed it to, it's LaurAlin... (it's okay, Shivvers, I still luv you!) so if you see any changes in her name every once and a while, I'M SORRY I MISSED IT!  
  
Disclaimer: Me: I own EVERYTHING. It's all MINE. AMIN. AMIN!!!!! ~wakes up from dream~ Me: Oh, damnit! I was SO CLOSE! I only own Alíana, Liliana, Lauralin, and (guess what) the playground swing and ~sigh~ a couple bugs and bushes. Tolkien gets His Royal Hotness and everything else...  
  
Chapter Two:  
  
Ten years later, Alíana and Legolas were sitting in a tree near the house, talking.  
  
"What can you remember about where you were before?" Alí asked curiously, sweeping a wisp of hair from her eyes, and watching Legolas, who thought for a minute before answering.  
  
"Well, it was green. I can easily recall that. I was too young, I couldn't remember, although I do remember my father's name, Thranduil. And my mother, although I just called her 'Ata'." Legolas answered.  
  
Both of the children looked no more than 15. Alí was still the bouncy girl that she had always been, although her figure had changed to match one of a young woman. Her legs were long, and her hips were curved, her breasts full, and her face mature.  
  
Legolas was taller, much taller. His voice deeper than the child's voice he used to have. He was muscular and strong, his face was chiseled and his hair was still long and pin straight.  
  
As soon as Legolas had shown up, Lily had taken Alí out of school, preferring to home school both her child, and her adoptive child. About two months after Legolas had come, she had given birth to another child, her real name being Lauralin.  
  
Lily knew it would happen soon. She did not know when, but she knew that they would be called back... when it was safe.  
  
"That sounds cool... oh, I wish I could go there..." Alí said wistfully to Legolas, leaning back on the trunk and relaxing. "That would be cool; to live with more elves than you, Ata, and Lauralin."  
  
"It would be awesome to go back..." agreed Legolas. "You know, your mother told me something that I only just recalled right now..." he said, suddenly thoughtful.  
  
"Mani? What did she say?"  
  
"She said 'Quel, san' ta naa sha'coiasira'," Legolas repeated.  
  
"Good, then it is almost time to go home?" Alí translated. "What does that mean?"  
  
"Well, I guess it would probably mean that we were going to go back... although it has been ten years since she said that," Legolas said.  
  
"Ten years, wow..." Alí said. "You know, I'm sure it hasn't been that long,"  
  
"Yes, it has," Legolas argued.  
  
"I guess it could have been, but you'll always be my little Leggy!" Alí said cutely. Legolas threw a thin branch of leaves that he had been fiddling with at her.  
  
"What did I tell you? DON'T CALL ME THAT!" He yelled, annoyed. Alí just giggled.  
  
"What do you expect? I'm like your sister, I have to torture you!"  
  
"That torture thing is *so* overrated, Alí!" Legolas said, picking up another twig and bending it around his finger. He laid back on the thick branch with amazing balance, staring up through the canopy of trees to where there were little patches of blue showing. "I am beginning to think that we will never go back... No sign, no nothing. Just a normal everyday world..." Legolas said mournfully.  
  
"We'll go back. I wasn't born there, all I know is that mother was born there. I also know that my father lives there, but I do not know his name or what he looks like. But I know that we'll go back. We have to... and we have all of eternity to do it."  
  
"Good point, Alí," Legolas agreed.  
  
"Are you two sitting in trees, again?" came the annoyed voice of Lauralin from below them.  
  
"Yes, oh sister-of-mine," Alí called down, not bothering to look at her sister, who had taken advantage of most of the human resources. Lauralin was very much an Americanized elf. She loved to listen to the radio, watch TV, go to the mall, (even though she was only 10), and was quite a brat. Legolas and Alí on the other hand, would rather sit in trees than watch movies, most of the time. They kept their connection with nature intact, rather than rot it on a computer. 'oh, Lauralin is not going to be happy when we go back,' Alí thought, 'no computers, no TV, no electricity no nothing,' she giggled to herself.  
  
"Lauralin, are you going to stand underneath us, come up into the tree, or leave us be?" Legolas asked her, also not bothering to look at her... he seemed quite interested in the patches of sky through the leaves.  
  
"Fine! FINE! I'll leave you two alone, to do whatever you do up there!" Lauralin called, putting her headphones back over her ears and walking back.  
  
"...Sometimes I just want to whomp her over the head..." Alí complained, once she knew that Lauralin wasn't within hearing distance.  
  
"I agree completely..." Legolas said. "She is going to be tortured when we go back..."  
  
Alí grinned, having just thought that herself. "Yep, ooh! That'll be so much fun!" she plotted. "No computers, no movies, no TV, no electronics, no Game-boys, no Nintendos, no X-Boxes, no GameCubes, no..."  
  
"No GameCubes?" Legolas whined. Alí just rolled her eyes. It was the one thing that Legolas really loved... his Nintendo GameCube...  
  
"Yes, Legolas, No... Game....Cubes..." she stated slowly. Legolas huffed. "That was a rather stupid thing to say, knowing that there's no electrical plugs or TVs or anything,"  
  
"I know... but honestly. That didn't really occur to me..." Legolas said sheepishly. He sat up on the branch, and took Alí's hand. "Come, it is getting late. We have to get back to the house before Ata worries... and anyways, I'm hungry, and I can smell dinner from here,"  
  
Alí giggled and climbed down the tree. Legolas waited until she was all the way down before jumping right in front of her. "Ahhhh!" She squealed, jumping backwards into the tree. "Honestly, you're going to kill me in the end by doing that! And if you don't scare me to death, then you'll brake your leg and won't be able to walk for weeks." She scolded.  
  
"Days, mellon. Not weeks. We elves heal faster, remember?" Legolas taunted. Alí swept past him, beckoning for him to follow.  
  
"Fine. *Days* you'll be in bed not walking. But still, wouldn't you rather be practicing archery or something?" She said, leading the way back through the forest.  
  
"Yes, well. I could play more Game Cube in my bed, although, I guess it would be better to not jump fifteen feet to the ground... but c'mon! It's so much fun!" he whined.  
  
"Fine, break your leg. See if I care!" Alí said. After another 10 minutes of arguing like siblings, they reached the little playground area. "Oh, I wish that mother didn't dissemble the play set," Alí said wistfully. "We used to have so much fun on that thing,"  
  
"Yeah... good times," Legolas agreed. "You know, I think we should hang up a swing from a tree..." He proposed.  
  
"Sounds good to me... how about we work on it tomorrow?" She suggested, opening up the kitchen door.  
  
"Work on what, Alíana?" Her mother asked from where she was stirring noodles at the stove.  
  
"We wanted to hang up a swing on a tree or something," Alí shrugged.  
  
"Why would you do that?" Lauralin asked, rather loudly (she still had her headphones on).  
  
"Because," Alí stated simply. "And you're going to ruin those ears of yours if you play that music any louder.  
  
"What? I can't hear you?" Lauralin answered, loudly again. Alí rolled her eyes.  
  
Alí smelled the air... she loved her mother's cooking, no matter what it was. "Dinner smells good, Ata. What is it?"  
  
"Spaghetti Bolognaise," her mother answered from the stove. "I knew you would like it."  
  
"Mmmhmm..." Alí agreed, opening the fridge and searching for a soda. "Cokey...cokey... where arrrrrre yoooooou?" she said, searching for her diet coke. "Ah ha!" she said triumphantly, holding the can of diet coke in front of her face. "Knew I would get you in the end... you couldn't hide forever!" she popped the top with a little noise from the compressed air in the can, and took a sip.  
  
"I can't believe you like, *diet coke*. What about Dr Pepper? *That's* much better than stupid diet coke!" Legolas argued.  
  
"Well, you can say that to the fridge... we're all out of Dr Peppers!" Alí laughed. Legolas immediately dived into the fridge searching franticly for the soda, when he emerged his face was sulky.  
  
"I guess you're right..." He sighed, staring at the floor. "Ah, well. No problem. I'll drink Lauralin's sodas. She won't mind if she's missing one Mountain Dew... not that she could hear me." He looked over at Lauralin, who was sitting on the sofa, listening to her head-banging music and reading a book.  
  
"Nope. She doesn't give a shit." Alí agreed.  
  
"Dinner!" Lily called, mostly for Lauralin's sake. (Legolas and Alí could hear her just fine,). She brought four plates heaped of spaghetti and delicious meat sauce to their small round kitchen table, and put them in their respectable places.  
  
Legolas and Alí said nothing, but dived into their own food, eating it with amazing speed. Lauralin stared disgustedly at the food. "Ata, what is *this*?" she said, forking a mushroom and examining it.  
  
"It's a mushroom, Lauralin, now eat up!" Lily ordered.  
  
"Fine," Lauralin said, sulkily poking her food.  
  
"Ata, can we have seconds?" chirped Legolas and Alí at the same time. "Jinx!" yelled Legolas triumphantly. Alí glared.  
  
"Yes, of course you can have more," Lily chuckled. Both of them stood up at the same time and raced to the stove to try to get it first.  
  
"I was here!"  
  
"It was me!"  
  
"You got seconds first last time!"  
  
"No I didn't!"  
  
"Children!" called their mother. "Calm down, I made enough for both of your appetites."  
  
"Ooh, really!" Alí cried.  
  
"You two eat like Hobbits..." Lily muttered under her breath.  
  
"We heard that!" Both Legolas and Alí called back to their mother. Lily sighed, and placed her napkin on the plate, having finished the meal herself. Alí and Legolas returned to the table with heaped plates and immediately dug in, forking one mouthful after another into their mouths.  
  
Lauralin was still just poking her food around. "Eat, you dimwit," Alí said, through a rather large mouthful. Lauralin made a face at her, as much of a sneer as elvenly possible.  
  
Five minutes later, Legolas and Alí put down their forks, leaning back in their chairs, and placing their hands over their stomachs. "Boy that was good..." Legolas said, taking a sip of Mountain Dew.  
  
"Hey, that's mine!" Lauralin exclaimed.  
  
"Ah, well. Nothing you can do about it now!" Legolas said, standing up and taking his plate with him to the sink. He drained the soda can, placed it on the floor and smashed it with his foot, before picking it up and throwing it away.  
  
"It was very good, as usual, thank you Ata." Alí said, picking up her plate and kissing her mother's cheek. She rinsed her plate and stuck it in the dishwasher, repeating what Legolas did to smash her can, and bounded silently upstairs.  
  
She reached the top of the stairs and turned right down the hallway to her and Legolas' rooms. (Lauralin's room was left). She walked into her room, not bothering to turn on the light, and walked straight across the room and opened the door to the balcony that she and Legolas shared.  
  
"Hello again, Legolas. I knew that you would be out here," she said. Legolas was sitting on a bench, which normally resided against the wall, but which they pulled out every night. The roof did not hang over much, she and Legolas had sawed it off a few years ago, so that they would have protection from rain, but be able to star gaze without hanging over the railing.  
  
"Like every night, sister," he commented, gazing upward to the stars above. Alí turned off the porch light and sat next to him on the stone bench, staring upward.  
  
"Its strange, I just can't get enough of being outside... I can stay out all day, and yet I still want to remain there." Alí said, mystified, gazing up at the stars.  
  
Legolas shrugged. "I guess it's an elf thing... except for our darling sister, who would rather scope out men than sit in a tree."  
  
"Well, she's an exception." Alí said. Her eyes followed the constellations that her mother had taught her long ago. "There's the big dipper..." she said, pointing like she did every night. "And Sirius, the dog star..." she pointed again.  
  
Legolas pointed to the brightest star, which she knew as the North Star. "See that? That's Earendil... the beloved star of the heavens," Then Legolas shook his head, and brought his head down to stare at his feet. "I don't know where that came from... I've never registered that before," he muttered.  
  
"You must have heard it before... maybe your mother taught you," Alí helped.  
  
"Maybe... but, I can't remember..." Legolas said, confused.  
  
Alí put an arm around Legolas' shoulders and gave him a little shake. "You'll remember soon enough. Just give it time," she comforted.  
  
Legolas nodded. He let his head rest on her shoulder, and stared back across the valley of trees that was the forest that they were in earlier today. "I may never know... but... little trickles of the past seem to come back to me, like my mother's face, father's laugh, the tree that I used to climb when I was big enough, my annoying nanny," he chuckled. "I never listened to her."  
  
A voice behind them spoke from Alí's open doorway. "Why you two are so into nature is beyond me." Both of them jumped. "And what's with the little cuddle session, anyways?" she accused. "Getting close are you? Closer than brother and sister relations, I mean," she laughed.  
  
"Go away, Lauralin," Alí whispered, trying not to disturb the peace of the night.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," Lauralin said sarcastically, cupping a hand to her pointed ear.  
  
"You heard her, leave." Legolas said in a tone that Alí had never heard before. It was commanding, almost kingly...  
  
Laurelin snorted and shut the door to Alíana's room with a crash. A panel of glass shattered and fell to the floor, but Alí paid no attention to it, instead resuming her position with her arm around Legolas. "I will never understand her..." she said, sadly. "I thought it would be the coolest thing. I mean, to have a little sister, whom I could pamper and treat like a queen. But she already acts like a queen, and any more pampering would destroy her respect for everybody." Alí hung her head.  
  
"Do not worry, she is only 10. She will come to," Legolas soothed. Alí's head now rested on his shoulder, and she breathed in his scent. He smelled like the forest, with a hint of ginger. She liked it here: just her, her brother, and the stars.  
  
Alí felt tired, yet she did not want to leave Legolas to be alone. So, she and Legolas spent the entire night, stargazing and talking.  
  
Around 6:30 in the morning, the sky started to fade from its blackness, and it changed to a purple, pink, orange, and red collage. The sun peeked its head over the horizon, and the two of them were flooded in the light of the sunrise.  
  
"It's beautiful, don't you think?" she said, her head still on Legolas' comfortable shoulder.  
  
"Yes, it is... I wonder if sunrises are like this in the other world..." Legolas commented. He had been hinting and hinting about the other world all week, and it was starting to grow on Alíana. The fact that there was another exciting world other than this, with more people, elves, and (according to one of Legolas' memories) a whole lot of tall, green, perfect- for-climbing trees.  
  
After the sun had risen completely, they stood up and stretched, having not really stood up throughout the entire night.  
  
"I'm going to get some breakfast. How about you?" Alíana asked Legolas, mid- stretch.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Bring on the waffles," he said, returning to his boyish self. "I'm going to break my record of waffles today," he declared... like he did every day.  
  
"Not if I beat it." Alíana shot back. "47 waffles is easy, Legolas."  
  
"Sure, Alí, like you could eat that much in one sitting," Legolas countered, following Alí through her room and into the hallway.  
  
"Easily, my brother. I haven't been eating much lately because I have been busy, but now that I have all the time in the world, I'm going to beat your record." She proclaimed, walking into the kitchen.  
  
"Alí, you and Legolas aren't going to clear out 4 boxes of Eggo waffles again, are you?" Lily said, bustling around the kitchen, like she did every day. "Because you know that if you do, you'll have to go buy more!"  
  
"No, prob, Ata! Bring on the waffles!" Alí said, cracking her knuckles. Legolas flinched beside her, and Alí giggled and did it again.  
  
"That... is... so... gross..." Legolas said, in between flinches. Alí grinned, before getting the big waffle boxes (24 waffles per box), and ripping them open.  
  
"Okay, you get two boxes, I get two. First one to finish all 48 wins!"  
  
"But I thought we were competing for the most waffles?" Legolas said.  
  
"Yes, but it would cost more, because I would eat twice as many as you, so we'll just race." She grinned. She stuck 8 waffles into the microwave, and stuck 4 into the toaster, and 4 more into the toaster oven. "Hmm... how are we going to do this... Ata? You're my faaaaaavorite person in the entire world. Have I told you that yet today?" she sweet-talked.  
  
"Fine, I'll cook the waffles," Lily consented.  
  
"Love ya!" She hugged her mother and turned on everything, while getting the syrup out of the pantry.  
  
"One for you, and one for me," she said, producing two full bottles of syrup.  
  
"No butter?" Legolas asked sadly.  
  
"Nah, takes too long." Alí said.  
  
"Well, you could just cut a square and stick it in the middle of the folded waffle," Legolas supplied.  
  
"Nah, takes too long." Alí repeated. "But if you want to slow yourself down..."  
  
"No butter." Legolas said immediately. He sat down at the table, Alí directly on the other side. The toaster dinged, and the toaster oven clicked, then the microwave beeped. Alí picked up the syrup bottle, and Legolas did the same. Lily came over to the table bearing sixteen hot waffles.  
  
"No cheating, you have to eat the whole waffle, you have to put syrup on the waffle, and whoever wins gets to stay home while the other goes shopping for more waffles." Lily stated the rules.  
  
"Okay, bring it on," Legolas challenged.  
  
"No, I will have heaped the competition on you so that you won't be able to win," Alí countered.  
  
Lily stacked 8 waffles on each of their plates. "Ready, Set.... GO!"  
  
Alí squirted syrup on her first waffle before folding it and cramming it into her mouth. One after another after another after another... Several more dings were heard, and Lily came back with 8 more waffles for each of them.  
  
Legolas, however, had been sneaky, and made waffle sandwiches, with his huge mouth, he crammed two waffles into his mouth at once.  
  
"Nffft ffaaaaiir!" Alí cried, when she saw what Legolas was doing.  
  
"Not fair? No. It wasn't stated in the rules that I couldn't eat two at a time," Legolas sneered playfully at her, and she repeated the gesture.  
  
Alí crammed three waffles into her mouth... another three... another three... on the other side of the table, Legolas was inhaling his waffles.  
  
Soon, they were up to their last eight waffles each. Alí took a deep breath, covered the waffles with syrup and crammed four into her mouth, not bothering to keep her mouth shut while chewing...  
  
Legolas was down to two...  
  
Alí had one left...  
  
"I WIN!" Both of them cried, stuffing their last waffle into their mouth and standing up.  
  
Lily was staring at both of them in awe. "Like I said... you eat like Hobbits." She said, gaping.  
  
"And I could fit in a couple more, if needed," Alí said, stretching as if she had just run a race.  
  
Lily gaped again, surprised at how much her daughter and adoptive son ate. "Well, it was a tie... both of you go to the store." She said, producing a few $20's out of her pocket and handing it to both of them. "Take your time, but remember; next time, *you're* paying." She warned. Alí and Legolas ran upstairs to change.  
  
"Should we walk?" Alí asked, as she got to her door, which had a decorate 'Alíana' written across it in block letters.  
  
"Sure. Make sure you wear tennis shoes!" he called through her shut door.  
  
"Okay!" she yelled. She stripped off her dress that she had been wearing, and selected a blue halter-top, which read 'Old Navy' across the front on a surf board with flowers around it. She took off her strapped bra, and fastened a strapless one around her chest, then slipped the shirt over it, making sure that no white showed. She dug through her jeans drawer and produced some faded hip-hugger blue jeans, and slipped them on. She brushed her semi-tangled hair, and left it down to cover her ears (as she always did in public).  
  
She emerged from her room, and Legolas did at the same time, his hair tied up in a green bandana (which also covered his ear tips). He was wearing baggy blue jeans, and had a simple forest green t-shirt on.  
  
"Come on, we can't drive, so we might as well get a move on," she said, taking his hand and bounding down the stairs. She and Legolas yelled to their mother that they were leaving, and she yelled back 'Take your time! Don't waste the money!'. They shut the front door, and walked onto the street.  
  
It was a beautiful summer day, only a few wispy clouds in the sky and the sun shining merrily above them.  
  
She and Legolas walked down the road, out of the neighborhood, and down the highway, keeping clear of the traffic. Several people stared at them, as they made their way on the side of the road chatting merrily. (Normally cars would only see bikers on the sides of the highway).  
  
"I won,"  
  
"No, I won,"  
  
"I won,"  
  
"No, I won,"  
  
Their conversation went on and on. They knew that they were arguing pointlessly, but it was still fun. They reached the intersection where they had to cross the road to go to the local H-E-B store, and waited for the red light, before dashing across the road. Legolas touched the light post first.  
  
"I win," he said wickedly.  
  
"I didn't know we were racing!" she said, feeling cheated. Legolas winked, and they waited for the other light to turn red... As soon as the light turned red, they both sprinted across. Alí touched the light post on the other side. "I win." She said, mimicking Legolas. She took his hand, and they walked across the parking lot (again debating who won the waffle contest.) They entered the H-E-B store, and Legolas grabbed a basket that proclaimed, "GO HOME A HERO!" and both of them proceeded to the frozen food isle.  
  
"Hmm... do you think they'll have enough?" he said, staring at the measly 2 boxes of plain waffles.  
  
"Ooh! Look over here! they have blueberry, and chocolate chip, and cinnamon, and... woooooow.... Scooby Doo!" she said excitedly.  
  
"I'm liking the sound of the Chocolate Chip ones." Legolas said, walking over to where she stood. "And Scooby Doo is so overrated, Alí," Legolas buried himself in the refrigerator and produced 8 boxes of chocolate chip waffles.  
  
Alí took one of them and put it back, taking a Scooby Doo box and putting it on top. "At least one, pleeeease!" she whined.  
  
"Fine! One Scooby Doo waffle box... but you'll have to share!" he grinned. Suddenly, a one of the TVs placed on the top of the aisles blared a theme song.  
  
"Ooh, this one looks good," she motioned for her and Legolas to watch the preview.  
  
"The world is changing...I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air..." came the mystical voice of a woman.  
  
The preview went on to say that something called the One Ring was found in Middle Earth. Then it showed a company of nine people. The announcer stated, "Frodo Baggins," a short blue-eyed person, "Along with his 3 Hobbit friends, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrine Took, and Samwise Gamgee,"  
  
"Hobbits..." Alí muttered, "Wait a second..." she started, thinking to herself. She knew she had heard of that word somewhere.  
  
"Is going to destroy the one ring, also with help from the dwarf, Gimli, son of Glóin, Boromir, son of Denethor, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Gandalf the Grey, and Legolas Greenleaf of the Woodland Realm..."  
  
Legolas froze, staring up at the tape, which had frozen on his face. "Oh, Eru..." he whispered.  
  
"Oh my gosh..." Alí said, her heart stopping. "We have to leave, Legolas, right now." She said. "Let's just pay, and go. We have to tell Ata,"  
  
She and Legolas zipped into a line with the sign "Ten Items Or Fewer!" over it, and dumped the waffle boxes onto the counter for the old lady to ring up.  
  
"Yeh know... You look a lot like that Orlando Bloom," she commented to Legolas, who merely glanced around uncomfortably. "Yeh look a mighty lot like that Lego-whoever from that new movie, too..." she said, jerking her dirty finger nailed thumb towards the nearest television. No answer.  
  
"Thanks, he gets that comment a lot these days," Alí saved him. "Um, how much will that be, ma'am?"  
  
"$50.47" The lady wheezed. Alí handed over sixty dollars, and grabbed the bags.  
  
"Uh, keep the change, and we don't care for the receipt," she said, before pushing Legolas out of the store.  
  
"We need to get home," she said. "Ata has to know about this immediately."  
  
Legolas nodded. He was dumbfounded. He had seen himself... like, he was in a movie. He knew now that he would not be able to show himself in public as often as he used to... as infrequently as that had been.  
  
Yes, he and Alí had spent countless hours shopping in the mall, and at the movies, but most of his life was spent with nature and with the only entertainment of the sun, stars, and crickets.  
  
He wanted to go home so badly, that it almost tore him in half. Now that he thought about it, his father had told him bedtime stories of his heroic father when he was in the war of the Ring... where the evil dark lord Sauron had the One Ring, and wanted to rule Middle Earth with it.  
  
...And according to that movie, which was due out in December of that year, he was going to be part of a company of nine, to destroy the very same ring...  
  
"Legolas? Legolas?" Alí said. Legolas had been lost in his thoughts up until they had entered their neighborhood.  
  
"Well, there goes the secrecy of elves..." she muttered, finally. "Now everybody is going to remember me, with my ears, and they'll connect two and two and boom. They'll think, "hey, what about that Alíana person who we used to make fun of, remember her? Yeah, she's got the ears, she's probably an elf or something," and everybody will laugh, and our cover is so damn busted..." she groaned, leaning against their mailbox, and putting her forehead in her hands.  
  
"You never know that. You were very young when you last saw most of your old schoolmates. They may have well forgotten."  
  
"Yeah, the freak with the ears who disappeared halfway into the year; yeah. They'll have forgotten all about me by now." She said sarcastically. Legolas took her hand away from her forehead and kissed it, then lowering it down to her side.  
  
"Come. Think not about what has happened in the past. Right now, we have to tell Ata."  
  
A/N: Like it? That's my version of an EVIL CLIFFHANGER!!!  
  
...because I don't like to leave you all disappointed!  
  
Now, I require um... five reviews for the next chapter, and then you'll get Figwit E-Cookies!  
  
THANKS FOR ALL OF YOU WHO REVIEWED, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!  
  
~Ivy 


	3. The Last Day

A/N: I LOVE YOU ALL!!! I got plenty of reviews for that one! *hugs everyone and passes out Figwit cookies for all* Special thankies to Shivvers, for being my special beta-dude. *hugs shivvers*  
  
Disclaimer: I'm not dead. I'm not Tolkien. I've learned to live with it. ~sigh~  
  
Ata, Ata!" Alí yelled, banging open the front door, and dropping the freshly bought waffles on the ground beside her.  
  
"Alí, mani naa raika?" (what is wrong) her mother asked as she ran into the kitchen in a rush.  
  
"You'll never believe what Legolas and I saw at the store!" she said. Lily could see that something was terribly wrong.  
  
"What? What did you see?" Lily asked, dropping the pot she had been washing in the sink and walking over to her daughter and son. "What, Legolas? Why so quiet?" She suddenly realized that Legolas was dumbfounded about something, and quite shocked out of words.  
  
"I saw... me..." he said, raising his hand to his forehead.  
  
"Nonsense. You can't have seen yourself, there have been no cameras around here!" Lily chastised.  
  
"I didn't see me now, I was older..."  
  
"What do you mean?" Lily was really, really curious now. How did they see the future?  
  
"It was a movie preview, Ata, about something called "The Lord of the Rings", and they said that this was the first movie out of three of them." Alí explained. Lily went silent.  
  
"Amin hiraetha, hinie, I need to be alone for a while, to figure all of this out," Lily said finally, before retreating into the master bedroom.  
  
Legolas and Alí stood in the kitchen for what seemed like hours, trying to make out what was happening. Legolas soon decided to change the subject. "Hey, do you want to go build that swing?" he asked, trying his best to be his normally jaunty self.  
  
"Alright," Alíana said, "We can probably find some wood and nails and stuff in the garage."  
  
Both of them walked into the garage, where a single green Ford Explorer resided, (they did not need a car much, only for their mother's doings), and along the other wall, where another car would have gone, was a workbench, with hammers, nails, screws, and other craftsman knickknacks hung on the wall. Alí disappeared below the bench for a minute before standing up with a couple pieces of wood.  
  
"Here's the old wood from the play set that used to be out there. Ata threw the plastic swings away," She said. "How many swings are we making?"  
  
"We could make two, one for you and one for me," he said. He spotted a deflated tire in the corner of the garage. "And we can use that, as another swing... in case your sister ever wanted to join us. Like that'd ever happen." He winked.  
  
"Okay... have you ever done anything like this before?" Alí asked, a hammer in one hand and a block of wood in the other.  
  
"Noooooope." Legolas said. "I guess that we should just hammer the wood blocks together, so it will support weight without breaking, and we can use these thingies," he held up screws with a loop hole on top of it, "to hang the chains through."  
  
"You sound like you know what you're doing." Alí commented.  
  
"Well, I used to watch HGTV a lot, and that some of the shows were about woodwork. But I've never done anything of the sort." He took the hammer from Alí and another large wood block from the stack of wood from the bottom of the bench. He also found a tube labeled 'Fast Drying Elmers Wood Glue' and put that on the table as well.  
  
"We can cut these to about two feet by one foot, glue them together, and nail them securely." He said.  
  
"It'll be a miracle if these turn out alright," Alí muttered, taking a saw from the pegboard and attempting to measure and saw the wood.  
  
Three confusing hours, six scrap swings, four mountain dews, five diet cokes, and more nails than one can count later, Legolas and Alí emerged from the garage, carrying a ladder, two relatively good swings, ropes, and the tire. They made their way outside to the pebbled area, and found two trees with strong branches to hang the swings on. Alí climbed the tree and tied up two of the swings. They then moved to another close by tree and hung up the tire swing.  
  
"Wow," Legolas said, "these actually work," he sat down in one of the swings cautiously, and swung gently back and forth. Alí did the same in the swing next to him.  
  
"You're right," Alí commented. She pushed hard off the ground, and swung her legs back and forth, getting slowly higher and higher. When she could not go any higher, she waited a second, before jumping off the swing and soaring across the yard. She landed catlike ten feet from Legolas, who was laughing, his blue eyes sparkling in the setting sunlight.  
  
"Let me try, I haven't done that in years," he joked, swinging higher and higher... He jumped off, and flew towards Alí, who had not moved from her spot. "Ahhhh! Mooooooove!" he yelled, before he was sent crashing into her.  
  
"Hehe..." he chuckled. "I guess I warned you,"  
  
"Legolas, GET OFF OF ME!!" Alí whined, from where Legolas had landed on her lap. "My feet are falling asleep!"  
  
"I can't be that heavy, can I?" he asked, not moving a muscle.  
  
"Yes!" She whined.  
  
"I think I'll stay here a while..." he said, jokingly.  
  
"ATAAAA!" Alí called across the yard. "LEGOLAS WON'T GET OFF OF ME!!!"  
  
"Legolas, get off of your sister!" came a shout from the open window. Tattle tale..." Legolas muttered. Alí smirked.  
  
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~  
  
Lily walked silently into her room, having just found out about Legolas' debut in the movies...  
  
'The future... but, how?' she thought, sitting on the enormous bed. She leaned over and picked up the flower from the bedside table. She fingered the white flower, and smelled it... it still smelled as good as when he gave it to her... 'Elrohir, how I miss you...' she thought.  
  
Elrohir had only been to this world twice, and both times were at night. He had come here with her originally; he was going to stay with them, but when plans changed, and he was needed at home, he had to leave. He promised to come back, but he left her with a piece of him. When they made love that first night, he impregnated her with Alíana; the second time, he came to visit, but he made sure that it was when Alíana could not see. He had come into her room, and whispered his love to her, before impregnating his wife for a second time.  
  
Though Lily did not like raising three children alone, she could manage it. She knew that Elrohir was in the other world, doing his duty as one of the princes of Rivendell, and she respected his position.  
  
The two of them had met long ago, in Lothlórien, where Lily used to live. Elrohir had been with his twin Elladan and younger sister Arwen visiting their grandmother, Galadriel. They had met while both observing a sunset, Lily on the hill, and Elrohir sitting on a branch. When Elrohir had seen her, he instantly fell in love, and sang her the most beautiful song that she had ever heard. She was also instantly smitten, and the two of them were married years later. But when he had to leave Lothlórien, he gave her one of the flowers of Galadriel. He had said 'as long as our love is strong, this flower will live,'.  
  
And now, 1500 years later, their love was still as strong as ever, for the flower remained intact.  
  
Lily attempted mind communication. All elves had a natural talent of telecommunication, but some of a certain lineage were exceptionally talented with the power. "Elrohir, Elrohir, Listen to me," she chanted. She felt her mind connect with his, and she felt a wave of love and passion sweep over her.  
  
"Mani, melamin?" (What, my love), he asked, worriedly, his fair voice filling Lily's head.  
  
"We must come soon, there is not an option now," she said hurriedly. The communication between realms was beginning to hurt her head.  
  
"I will set it up, walk into the forest tomorrow morning at dawn, bring little, and just keep walking. I will see you then... Amin mela lle," he whispered, before breaking the connection.  
  
"Amin mela lle," she whispered to the silence ringing in her ears. To hear his voice for the first time in over a year was the best thing that had happened for a while. She still held the flower, and as she brought it to her face to smell it again, a small tear leaked down her cheek...  
  
She heard laughing from the garage, and a TV program upstairs. She knew that her children were fine to their own doings for now.  
  
She decided she would not take much with her. She could obviously come back, if needed. She replaced the flower on the nightstand, and stood up off the bed. She wiped a tear away and went back into the kitchen to start preparing dinner.  
  
Shouts were heard from outside. "Ataaaa! Legolas won't get off of meeeee!" came the annoyed scream of her first born.  
  
"Legolas, get off your sister!" she called back, amused to see her adoptive son sitting on Alí's stomach.  
  
The two of them came bounding into the kitchen. When they saw their serious mother, both stopped and walked over to her.  
  
"Ata, are you feeling alright? You look pale." Legolas said, worriedly.  
  
"Go upstairs and pack whatever is valuable to you. We leave at dawn, and tell your sister!" she added.  
  
"Ata, are you serious?" Alí cried happily.  
  
Legolas was speechless. He was going to see his father...  
  
"I am serious, now don't bring too much, and tell your sister, no electronics!" she said. "There is little chance that you will be coming back here, and when we get there, it will be like being born into a new life." She said, her eyes glistening with tears of excitement and joy.  
  
Alí hugged her mother, Legolas did the same, and both of them bounded up the stairs happily.  
  
Alí stepped into her room and immediately began to wonder what she needed in the other realm. She took a cross stitch patterned pillow and hugged it to her chest She knew she would take this. It was of vines of green leaves with white flowers intertwined in them. Her mother made it for her ten years ago, and she had always held it dear.  
  
She lifted open her jewelry box and gently raised a heart-shaped locket. The locket opened to reveal a small picture of her and Legolas. She was on a swing, and Legolas was behind, hugging her, and his head peeking out childishly from behind hers.  
  
It reminded her of how dear her brother was to her, even if he was of no blood relation. He was always a comfort to her whenever she needed it. And he offered whatever council he could give, if he could give any council she had not heard from her mother. He was a star gazing partner, a person to laugh with, and forever he would hold a special place in her heart.  
  
A/N: Again, hello! I hope you loved the Figwit cookies! Glorfindel cookies for everybody who reviews this! And I really appreciate the reviewers that say that they enjoy this, and that they think that it is original, because I'm still working on the originality points. ^^  
  
I'm working the next chapter, so it won't come so fast! Sorry!  
  
...and remember what Thumper said: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Its stupid and gross to get reviews, because it does nothing but put people down; and I get the feeling that you all like to torment me and others who write Mary Sues. If I don't like a story, I DON'T READ OR REVIEW IT! So learn from those like me. Oh yeah, and it is a SIN to use vulgar language...so NO CUSSING. It's just wrong. (sorry about the religion thing, I'm learning about it in class...)  
  
So R+R!!! (THANKS AGAIN FOR SHIVVERS' HELP!!!) ~Ivy 


	4. Departure

A/N: Sorry it took a while to get this one to you all! I got a tremendous approval of the first couple chapters, and I just want to thank you all! *hugs everbody*  
  
Disclaimer: I really, really, REALLY want to own His Royal Hottness, but alas! I DON'T ! I just own Alíana, Liliana, and Lauralin... oh, and I own their house too! :)  
  
Chapter Four: Departure  
  
"We're WHAT?" Lauralin practically shouted, dropping the plate that she held in her hand.  
  
"Leaving, you twit. And Ata said no electronics." Legolas added, chucking her a dustpan and brush. His patience was running thin with the elfling's attitude problem.  
  
"Take only what you need." Legolas added. "ONLY!" he called over his shoulder to her, knowing that she was going to smuggle something into her bag.  
  
"Only what I need..." Lauralin murmured haughtily. "Shit, that leaves me with, like, nothing." She went upstairs, leaving the dustpan and brush to be tripped over by some unsuspecting person, and wandered into her room. She picked up her CD player, and stuck it in a bag she would take with her... no way, she wasn't living without her music!  
  
'Geez,' she thought. 'Legolas and Alí have it easy. They're Ata's favorites. Always first in her eyes. And they're all on top of each other and everything. They're practically twins!' She sat, flustered on her bed, head in one of her hands and her elbow resting on her knee.  
  
"Why can't I be like them?" she said wistfully, before a tear leaked down her young cheek. She wiped away the solitary droplet and stuffed a few more of her CDs into her bag.  
  
~^~  
  
Alí came down the stairs, carrying a small collection of trinkets. Legolas followed with nothing, hands in pockets.  
  
"Legolas, what's the reason of not bringing anything?" she asked curiously as he descended the last step.  
  
"Came with nothing, leave with nothing. I expect that I had something in the other realm, it must still be there." He said simply, shrugging.  
  
"Good point," she said, amazed at his logic. "It's a shame, you know, we buy all those waffles, only to leave..." Alí hinted, her eyes flickering towards the kitchen.  
  
"Race you!" Legolas cried, dashing into the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, not fair! Ground rules first!" Alíana called, putting her belongings carefully on a glass table and jogging into the kitchen.  
  
"Alright, maybe we should share with Ata and Lauralin, this time." Legolas suggested, head buried in the chest freezer.  
  
"Hmm... Leave 'em a box or two..." Alí said, shrugging. "There's no way they would finish more than that." Legolas nodded, staggering to the kitchen table with eight boxes of waffles.  
  
"Ata!" Legolas called through the kitchen door. "Are you willing to judge another contest?" he shouted, once he had abandoned the waffle boxes on the table.  
  
"Don't eat all of those, you'll get sick!" Lily said, coming into the kitchen and looking at the eight boxes of waffles.  
  
"We wouldn't! We would save two for you and Lauralin." He said.  
  
"You do know that there are ways or heating things in Middle Earth, don't you?" Lily smiled, her hands on her hips.  
  
"Hmm... didn't think of that." Alí said, she felt so stupid. Of course she could eat waffles when she left!  
  
"Goooooood point." Legolas said. "But still, can't we still eat some of them?" Lily laughed at his enormous appetite.  
  
"Of course, Legolas. But you'll have to make them yourself. I'm not doing it." She waltzed out of the kitchen. "And make some for your sister and I!" she called over her shoulder.  
  
"Two boxes?" Legolas asked.  
  
Alí nodded. "That's 6 for Ata and Lauralin... and 42 for us. Sounds good!" Alí laughed.  
  
Gosh... Legolas loved her laugh.  
  
Gosh, where did that thought come from?  
  
~^~  
  
"Ata!" Alí ran back into the house from where she had been standing on the porch. "Ata, dawn is coming!" she raced through the kitchen and into her mother's room, where her mother was picking up her small amount of possessions and carrying them into the hall.  
  
"Good." She said. She put down her few trinkets. "Lauralin!" she called up the stairs.  
  
"Coming!" the girl shouted from above.  
  
"Oh, Eru, you aren't taking all of that are you?" Alí said, exasperatedly, upon seeing the mass of stuff her sister was attempting to bring.  
  
"Lets see..." Lily said, taking the bag from her daughter and pawing through it. "Lauralin, you don't need half of this stuff!" she said, taking the CD player and putting it aside.  
  
"Yes I do!" Lauralin screamed, making both other women flinch. She took the abandoned CD player and housed it back in her already overfull bag.  
  
"Look at your sister, all she is taking is a few personal possessions! She's not attempting to bring cable TV!" her mother argued.  
  
"Perfect Alíana," scoffed the girl, "Follow her example, be just like her," Lauralin stomped off up the stairs. The three elves heard a door slam momentarily.  
  
"I'll talk with her..." Lily said. "You and Legolas put everything outside, and then wait for the two of us." Alí nodded.  
  
"Legolas, could you come here?" she shouted in his general direction, sure that he could hear her call.  
  
"Yes, seleramin?" he said, leaning casually in the doorway, making her jump.  
  
"A little help? I don't want to break anything" she said, standing with her and her mother's things. Legolas took a book and her box of trinkets from her and led the way outside. He walked across the garden and sat on his swing, and Alí sat on hers. They both stared in their own directions.  
  
"I think I'm going to miss it here, Legolas said, staring up through his bedroom window, "Especially my GameCube," Alí snorted, and absent-mindedly lightly pushed his shoulder.  
  
"Guys and games... made for each other." She rolled her eyes. "Legolas, are you okay?" Legolas was staring at her differently, smiling.  
  
"I'm fine, just fine..." he said, giving his head a little shake. He laughed. "I was just admiring how beautiful you are in the sunrise."  
  
"Uh, thanks," she said, not quite sure what to think of his sudden attitude.  
  
"Lle creoso," (you're welcome) he whispered. "Ata is coming. Come on," he said after a minute of silence. He stood up and took her hand, cradling what he was holding in his other arm. Lily came outside, beaming. Her energy was starting to mount in excitement.  
  
She was going to see Elrohir again.  
  
Legolas and Alí had never seen their mother in a happier mood, except when Lauralin was born. She had a sort of glow, an inside pride, and now it seemed to be back. She was grinning from ear to ear, and when she took her things from Legolas she almost hopped on the spot in excitement.  
  
"Ta naa mela," (It is love) Legolas whispered to Alí, "It must be."  
  
"Henieamin, (my children) we must leave," she said. "The divide between worlds will not last long," Lily led the way into the forest, clutching the flower to her tightly. Alí followed with Legolas, and Lauralin was last; huffing and stomping the whole way.  
  
"Elrohir," Lily created a connection. "We are coming."  
  
"Walk straight." Came her lover's voice. "You will meet Elladan. He will take you to Rivendell's gate." And then he broke the connection again.  
  
Alí and Legolas were staring straight head, not daring to talk and break the silence of the forest. Lauralin was still mad at her mother for not letting her bring everything she wanted. She was muttering about the unfairness of something.  
  
Alí noticed the subtle change in the surroundings, but was not quite sure about them. The trees, which had been mostly old, gnarled, and crooked, were now tall, straight, and green. Plants that she had never seen were planted amongst grass that she was sure did not grow in her world.  
  
She nudged Legolas and pointed to one of the plants. He stopped to examine one, and Alí stopped as well, fingering a soft leaf of a flowery plant.  
  
They said nothing, but kept on going. A voice from nowhere then spoke, startling the three children, but not their mother. A figure dropped from a tree beside Lauralin and she squealed and jumped.  
  
"Liliana, seleramin, tampa." (Liliana, my sister, stop,) they commanded. All four of them stopped in their tracks.  
  
"Elladan," Lily said, touching the man, no, he had pointed ears, elf's face with a trembling hand. The elf was tall, with stern gray eyes. He wore a quiver on his back, full of arrows; his bow was in his hand at his side. He had a green tunic on with black leggings, and his hair was long and dark, though not black. He was quite handsome, Alí observed. Elladan smiled.  
  
"Your father will be very happy to see you," he said to Alí and Lauralin. "Your father" he turned to Legolas, "is not here as of now. But he sent a messenger ahead of him saying that he would be here within the day." He said to Legolas, who smiled in return.  
  
"Legolas, come on!" Alí tugged on his tunic shirt. "I wanna go see Ada!" she whined childishly. She pulled him along by his shirtsleeve, and he stumbled over plants behind the company.  
  
"My father is coming..." he said, still dazed. "I remember so little of him, only that he was of a high status. But how high, I'm not sure about." Alí, who had released his shirt and now had his wrist, dragged Legolas behind them. She was just trying to just make sure he was keeping up with the group without killing himself by tripping over a root.  
  
Lauralin was no longer huffing, but was gazing in awe at her surroundings. Her gray-blue eyes were feasting on everything with wide eyes and her mouth was open, almost stupidly.  
  
Wait, her gray-blue eyes... Gray? That elf, Elladan had gray eyes, he wasn't her father though, what if...  
  
"Elladan?" Alí questioned, dropping Legolas's arm and jumping around Lauralin to get to him. He stopped talking in Elvish to Lily and answered.  
  
"Yes, Alíana?" he said, gray eyes piercing into her own crystal blue ones.  
  
"Am I related to you?" she inquired innocently, holding his gaze.  
  
Lily laughed. "Uma, henamin, (Yes, my child) he is your uncle."  
  
"I am your father's brother." Elladan smiled at her.  
  
"Cool!" she said, hugging him. "So when do we get to... wherever we're going?"  
  
"Rivendell," Elladan laughed again, "It shouldn't be far. We need to go down into the valley," he pointed down to where the path began to slope downward, "then it will be about ten minutes until we enter the city." He concluded, before encompassing Lily with more conversation in Elvish.  
  
"I can sense your excitement. You have proven strong, being able to be away from your bonded one." Elladan said to her quietly.  
  
"It's been hard," agreed Lily, just as softly.  
  
"Well, you won't have to wait much longer." Elladan informed her, almost proudly, smiling in her direction.  
  
The five of them proceeded down the valley and into the outskirts of the village. Every step that Lily took brought her closer to Elrohir, and her excitement and anticipation mounted along with the every time she set her foot down. Her heart was fluttering and her stomach twisted. She just wished that they could enter Rivendell...  
  
A last familiar turn brought the company to the long, thin bridge, and yards away from the bridge was a stone gate covered in years worth of green vines, all shaded by the trees. In the middle of the gate, stood...  
  
"Elrohir!" Lily shouted, she tore past her brother-in-law, as well as her daughters and adoptive son, sprinted the length of the bridge, and threw her arms around the elf. He twirled her around, hugging her waist, and when he brought her down, kissing her deeply. "Melamin..." Elrohir muttered kissing her again.  
  
Alí, Legolas, and Lauralin were standing on the other side of the bridge, their mouths agape. "That is disturbing." Alí muttered. "Watching Ata making out,"  
  
"Yep..." Legolas agreed.  
  
Elladan led the way across the bridge and he reached the two lovers first. He waved for the children to follow, and they did, but Lauralin was walking so slowly that it would have been the next year before she reached the other side. She was wringing her hands and was shuffling her feet across the 3-foot wide bridge.  
  
"Lauralin," Alí groaned. "Come on!" Alí walked back to the middle of the bridge, grabbed her sister's hand, and walked back to the other side, dragging her sister behind. "Don't you want to meet Ada?" she whispered, not bothering to restrain the excitement in her voice.  
  
"Yes, but this bridge is tiny, Alí!" she whispered back.  
  
"You'll get used to it..." Alí hoped, rather than said.  
  
Alí had been in such a hurry to get her sister that she had not taken a good look at the man her mother was clinging to. He was...  
  
"Did I mention that I am your father's twin brother?" Elladan joked, smiling a Alí's face. Her father was an exact replica of Elladan, gray eyes, long brown hair, and strong features.  
  
"Alíana, tinuamin," (my daughter) Elrohir said, embracing her. He did to same thing to Lauralin and hugged her as well. Lily was crying tears of happiness.  
  
"Lye naa eska, lye naa eska," (We are home, we are home) she was repeating happily to herself.  
  
"Come, I have prepared rooms for the three of you. And Legolas, your father sent a messenger. He will be here with in the next day." Legolas grinned and followed silently.  
  
Lily was silently rejoicing being home, Lauralin was sneakily eyeing out young male elves through the corner of her eyes, and Legolas and Alí were chatting animatedly about what they were going to do later that day.  
  
Elrohir and Elladan led them past doors and down hallways, up stairs, and past halls, until they came to a long corridor of doors. At the end was a stained glass window of a rose vine entwining a bow.  
  
"This is the royal hallway, for family and guests," Elrohir informed the children.  
  
"Wait," Alíana stopped dead. "What? ROYAL? Did you say ROYAL?!" she asked. She looked from her mother to her father.  
  
"Uma, tinuamin. Royal." (Yes, my daughter). He looked at Lily. "You have not told them?" he asked. Lily shook her head.  
  
"I saw no need to, melamin." She answered, and put her head on her husband's shoulder.  
  
"Very well, than I shell tell you. But first," he pointed to two doors. "These are your rooms, you may choose whose is whose." And then he pointed down the hallway. "That is your room, Legolas."  
  
"This one is mine." Alí said, touching the doorknob closest to her.  
  
"And this one is mine." Lauralin said, touching the other knob.  
  
Elrohir started to explain. "I am the son of Elrond Halfelven, Lord of Rivendell; that makes me a prince, as well as my brother, and my sister, your Aunt Arwen, is a princess. That makes you and your sister princesses." He said, matter-of-factly.  
  
"You are Prince of Mirkwood. Your father is King Thranduil." Elladan told Legolas, who was waiting to know of his identity.  
  
Legolas nodded, and walked down to his room silently, and shut his door with a resounding click. Alí noticed a solemnity about him, which was very uncharacteristic to him. Why wasn't he talking? He was suddenly so quiet... she decided she would talk to him later.  
  
She and Lauralin hugged their father again, before the walked into their rooms. Lily called after them, "Remember to come to lunch!" before departing with Elrohir.  
  
Alíana stepped into her room and blinked a few times for the sight to sink in. The walls were decorated with pale pastel greens, yellows, and blues. There were two doors, one leading to the bathroom, she presumed, and when she opened the other the face of her sister greeted her.  
  
"Adjoining rooms," Lauralin said, still slightly surprised to see her sister.  
  
"Cool," Alí agreed.  
  
"Yep," Lauralin said, before shutting the door. Alí turned to explore the rest of her room. She peeked her head inside of the bathroom, which was nearly the size of the room itself. A door led to Lauralin's room on the other end. It was covered in white tile, and every once and a while was the what seemed to be family crest, with the rose vine and the bow. In the corner was an enormous bathtub, and on one wall there was a large counter with two basins. Behind the basins was a large mirror mounted on the wall. Alí went back into the room.  
  
Flowers, mainly roses, were arranged in lovely vases around the room. On every surface were candles of all sorts, and there was even the scent of flowers in the air.  
  
There were large double doors on the far wall, and they were open and letting the breeze come in. They led to an adjoining balcony, which ran the length of the building. It had little gates separating them.  
  
Back in the room, there was a large wardrobe, and when opened, it produced many different colored dresses, and then there was the bed. Alí hopped onto the enormous, soft, pillowed bed. She bounced a bit, and then flopped back onto the bed.  
  
"Being a princess won't be that bad, after all." She thought before she fell into what an elf could call sleep.  
  
A/N: Yay! You all made it to the end of the chapter! Hooray! *Hands out Celeborn cookies*  
  
I just want to give another thank you to all who reviewed! I love you!  
  
And to my beautiful beta, Shivvers, you rock like the Twins do! *highfives*  
  
Keep a button company, click the purply-blue button down on the left hand side of your internet browser. Make a person happy, type a nice comment in the pretty box!  
  
~The Hobbit Ivy 


	5. Meeting Family

A/N: It's me again! *watches as all cower in fear* Well, OK! I'll just GET TO THE CHAPTER! ~sigh~  
  
Disclaimer: *swipes everybody off of C. Tolkien* MUAH HA HA! THEY'RE ALL MINE! MINE! MIIIINE!!!!! Chapter Five:  
  
"Alíana!" Came a muffled voice from behind Alí's door. "Alíana, milady, may I come in?" Alí groaned in response, before the door eventually burst open after what seemed like a few tries of banging the door to try to get Alíana up, and in bustled an elf. "Milady! What are you doing resting? You have much to do today!" The elf shooed her off of her bed and into the bathroom.  
  
"Your sister is already bathed and ready," the elf informed her. "You don't have much time before the afternoon meal, you only have an hour!" the elf started unclothing Alí, who decided against complaining... she was too tired to do so, anyways.  
  
"What's your name?" Alíana yawned, as the she-elf shooed her into the tub.  
  
"Tinwe," the elf said. "I will be your maid." She bowed in respect.  
  
"I have my own maid?" Alí said, a bit flabbergasted at the idea of having her own caretaker.  
  
"Well, Lady Liliana said that you wouldn't be much trouble, so I am the maid for both you and your sister." Tinwe replied quickly, washing, rinsing, and massaging Alí's head.  
  
"Okay..." Alí slowly said. She'd never thought that being a princess required so much pampering...  
  
"Princess, hurry!" Tinwe said, after a half-hour of her washing her thoroughly. "You have to dry and get dressed, then I have to do your hair, and oh! Where has the time gone?" Tinwe asked herself, worriedly.  
  
~^~  
  
"Elrohir, how do you think they took it?" Lily asked, as they were strolling through the gardens. She held her arm on the crook of her husband's elbow.  
  
"Took what, melamin?" Elrohir asked, his arm encircling Lily's waist.  
  
"Took the fact that they are royalty, you're their father, that they belong in this world..." Elrohir placed his finger over her lips to stop her stream of questions, before replacing his finger with his lips.  
  
"Liliana, they are fine. A bit shaken, but they are fine." He assured. He kept walking. "Now, let us keep enjoying this lovely day, and then we can enjoy a lovely night," he winked, and Liliana giggled, before entwining her hand in his.  
  
"It's so wonderful to be back," she whispered, looking up at her husband.  
  
~^~  
  
Legolas shut the door behind him in his temporary room, and slid down the door, to where he sat, his back against the door, his elbows on his bent knees, and his hands cupping his forehead.  
  
It was all very overwhelming. From vague memories, he remembered his father, but his father being a king? He, a prince? His sisters, princesses? It was almost too much information to process.  
  
He sat there for what seemed like hours, before there was a knock on his door. He stood up and opened what was his backrest momentarily before.  
  
"Hey, may I come in?" Alí asked timidly to him. She was wearing a light green summer dress that fitted her figure well and pooled around her feet.  
  
"Sure," he muttered, moving away so that she could come in and sit on the bed. Legolas followed and joined her.  
  
"Legolas, what is wrong? You became so quiet as soon as you found out your status..." She asked worriedly. She started toying with the little fluff that outlined a pillow next to her. She rubbed the soft substance between her thumb and index fingers, and looked at her worried brother.  
  
"It's a lot, you know?" he said, avoiding her eyes. "Living your life not knowing who you are, then finding your future being portrayed on television for all of America to see, and then changing worlds..."  
  
"Yeah, well, I guess I don't have it as bad as you. I at least have my parents here." She replied, still playing with the pillow fluff. She sighed, and then said, "Well, I came to tell you that it is lunchtime." She hugged her brother and got up off the bed. "Are you coming?" she slowly said to the door in front of her, not looking back.  
  
"Well, okay." Legolas heaved himself off the bed. "Do you think that they have waffles here?"  
  
Alíana laughed. "Maybe, well... I'm starved!"  
  
~^~  
  
"So, where are we?"  
  
Fifteen minutes of wandering possessed Alíana to ask that question as they yet again found themselves back in the royal wing.  
  
"Maybe if we go left..." Legolas suggested.  
  
"We've been left! *Twice*." Alíana cut him off. She was about to give up on having lunch, when a voice behind them inquired,  
  
"Are you lost?" An elf asked sweetly.  
  
Both of them turned to find a very beautiful she-elf coming out of one of the rooms. She was wearing a light blue dress, and she had long, slightly wavy dark hair. She was easily the most stunning person Alíana had ever looked upon. Her gray eyes pierced into Alí and Legolas' crystal blue ones.  
  
"Are you...?" Alí started her sentence, still shocked.  
  
"Arwen? Yes." Arwen finished for them. "I presume that you are Alíana and you are Legolas Greenleaf." She said.  
  
Both of them nodded.  
  
"Well, then your mother was inquiring of your presence a while ago." She informed them.  
  
"We have been trying to find our way to lunch for fifteen minutes!" Legolas said. "We're starving!" He groaned, putting his hand on his stomach playfully, and pretending to faint in hunger.  
  
Alí giggled. Legolas was back to his old self again.  
  
"Yes, Aunt Arwen, could you take us to the dining hall?" she asked politely, smiling at the fact that Legolas had decided to cheer up.  
  
"Of course! Just follow me! And later, I'll show you the rest of Rivendell, because you'll need that knowledge sooner or later...and you do not have to call me 'Aunt', I don't think I'm old enough to be an aunt!" She laughed. Then she beckoned for them to follow. She led them left down the hallway.  
  
"Told you," Legolas whispered. Alí stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
All the while, Arwen was chatting nonstop about which door went where, and she pointed out elves along the way to them. Soon, after a few attempts to keep up with everything, Legolas and Alí just whispered to themselves.  
  
"...This is Luine, she's the head chef in the kitchens, just go to her when you need a snack!..."  
  
"Does she ever stop?" Legolas whispered. "I don't think anybody has the capability to talk that long."  
  
"I know..." Alí replied. Arwen suddenly stopped and both children bumped into her.  
  
"Whoops! Here we are!" She chirped. She shooed them into a huge hall, with candles lighting it as well as open windows. There was a long table at the front, but everybody was sitting at little round tables placed on the floor.  
  
"Vedui, Alíana, Legolas," A man said, standing up and walking towards them open-armed. He looked a lot like Elrohir and Elladan. He didn't look necessarily older, just wiser. His stern look and gray eyes frightened them a bit, but when Liliana smiled and told them who it was, he all of a sudden didn't look as strict.  
  
"Alíana, Legolas, this is Elrond Halfelven, Lord of Rivendell, and father of Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen." Their mother introduced them.  
  
Alí beamed, now knowing her Grandfather. She gave him a hug, and took her seat beside her sister, (who was looking very pampered and pretty.)  
  
They sat down to eat, and about when everybody was finishing, a servant ran in. He slowed down just before getting to the table, and whispered something to Elrond. Elrond smiled and beckoned in somebody standing at the door.  
  
"Welcome, Thranduil, the Elvenking of Mirkwood," Elrond's voice boomed around the hall. Everybody who had been talking stopped abruptly.  
  
Everybody's heads turned to see a single tall man with platinum blonde hair making his way to the table.  
  
Legolas stood up. "Ada?" he whispered.  
  
A/N: Woo! Yay! Hooray! You got to the end!!! Well, I officially have 32 days left of school (and I'm counting down like my life depends on it!) and I absolutely love every review that I get! REALLY!  
  
I would confess my love to Shivvers for being the most awesome beta this side of the Earth, but she'll just have to deal with some more chapters from me!  
  
Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *holds puppy-faced Legolas in front of her* ~The Hobbit Ivy~ 


	6. Father

A/N: Well, you will all be pleased to hear that this chapter only took me about two hours to slap together... GO ME! I won't delay you any longer, so here it goes!  
  
Disclaimer: *bored tone* Alí is mine. All mine. Liliana is mine. All mine. Lauralin is mine. All mine. *crazed laughing* Muah...haha...hahaha....hahahaha!!!  
  
Chapter 6: Father  
  
'It was as if everything had stopped right there. There was my father; the one person whom I've been so anxious to meet ever since I was on Earth...'  
  
"Ada?" Legolas repeated in a whisper. The small noise seemed to echo around the hall, bouncing off of everything solid. The entire hall was silent as the grave. Some elves stood up and bowed as Thranduil passed slowly.  
  
When Legolas started to walk to the king, it was as if it was only Legolas and his father that existed. The entire world blurred around him... it was the first time he had met his father in a very long time... Alí knew well how much of a big deal this was for Legolas.  
  
When Thranduil and his son met in the middle of the room, they stood there in an echoing silence. Thranduil put a hand on Legolas' shoulder, and then all of a sudden they were in a tight embrace.  
  
Alíana, Liliana, Lauralin, Elrohir, Elladan, and Elrond were all beaming. Alí wanted desperately wanted to bounce up and meet Thranduil, but she restrained herself.  
  
Legolas led his father back to the table. Liliana stood up and greeted Thranduil in the traditional elvish tradition; they both placed their right hands on the other's left cheek.  
  
"Tis a pleasure, milord, to meet you again." She brought her hand down to her side and sat back in her seat at the table.  
  
"Ada, it is obvious that you know Liliana already, but she has been the one who has raised me, whom I have been calling my mother." He informed his father. He gestured to Lauralin. She stood up, and Thranduil placed his hand on her shoulder. "This is Lauralin, my sister." Legolas said.  
  
"A pleasure to meet you, my lady. If Legolas shall call you his sister, then you shall be called my daughter." Thranduil had an amazing gift to command entire armies, yet still have the soft spot in his heart to speak with the most caring voice you would ever hear. It was one of the most intriguing qualities that would baffle Alíana in the years to come.  
  
"And Ada, this is Alíana." Legolas introduced his father to Alí. "She has been very close to me for my entire life. We have basically been inseparable..." he muttered the last part.  
  
Alí stood up, repeating the gesture of her mother. Thranduil observed her carefully. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. Then he hugged her, whispering, "You especially, shall be called a daughter of mine, if you mean so much to my son..." Alíana beamed at being offered this sign of love.  
  
"I thank you, milord. It is enough to be called a sister by those who care, but being a daughter to you is a high honor." She bowed in respect, giving a quick smile at Legolas as well.  
  
"Come, join us. I am sure that you are starving!" Lily offered, gesturing to a seat, which was next to Legolas.  
  
"I would be delighted to, but I would like to spend some time with my son." Thranduil bowed, and started to leave the hall with his arm on Legolas' shoulder. He glanced back and mouthed a 'sorry' to Alíana. She merely grinned and motioned shooing him off to have a good time.  
  
~^~  
  
Thranduil led Legolas back outside, to where his horse was. "Have you ridden before, my son?" he asked. He called for someone to bring a horse for Legolas.  
  
Legolas had never ridden a horse, except for the fairs that Liliana had taken them to when they were young, where he would ride the ponies. "No, I have not ridden any horses, Father." He looked a bit unsure of himself as a servant led a horse to them. His helped him mount the dappled gray horse. The horse did not have a saddle on it, and he gripped the mane tightly. His father mounted skillfully on his own steed. He watched and listened carefully as his father instructed him on what to do. Legolas nudged his horse in the sides, and the horse, sensing his insecurity and fear, walked slowly.  
  
"Good, now, just hold on to the steed as necessary, I will not take you on any difficult rides until you are sure of your riding skills." Thranduil told him, after another hour of practicing in circles. He steered his horse with verbal commands, and Legolas copied his father.  
  
Thranduil led his horse to a path leading to the outskirts of Rivendell. He kept a watch on his son, who was slightly behind his father. Thranduil asked for Legolas to explain about his childhood.  
  
"I basically grew up with Alíana, Liliana, and Lauralin. They are my sisters and mother to me. Alíana and I are extremely close, Ada. I call her my twin, as we are very close in age." Legolas started. Thranduil nodded in understanding. "When I arrived, Liliana welcomed me with open arms. She took Alíana out of school, and she home schooled us both. When Lauralin was born, she became a part of the family quickly. She was spoiled by Alí and I, because she was so little and adorable, unfortunately, all of that spoiling has brought her to an ultimate attitude of being spoiled all the time." Legolas continued.  
  
"When Alí and I were bored, we would stroll in the forests, or we would sit in trees, or do most of the things that elves here would do, I presume. We didn't lose our fascination with nature throughout the years. We would play outside, and rarely we would venture out into the public. We lived in a rather secluded neighborhood, but we were near neighbors. They left us alone, thankfully. When we did go out in public, we learned that our pointed ears and my long hair attracted a bit of attention. So, when we did go out, I always wore a bandana to cover my ears and to keep my hair up. Alíana just wore her hair down, because that is quite common to do amongst human girls.  
  
"Our daily life was quite simple, and rather unattractive to most humans. We did not sleep much, instead we would gaze at the heavens, and we would share stories, tales, or just sit in silence, letting nature talk to us. Morning would come. We would both go downstairs to the kitchen, and we would eat waffles." Legolas chuckled.  
  
"What is a waf-full?" Thranduil asked his son, his curiosity getting the better of him. The two horses turned a bend, and they started in a new direction.  
  
"An interesting sort of bread, which you put butter and syrup on." Legolas replied. "Alíana and I have 'the appetites of hobbits' as Liliana always told us." He grinned. Thranduil laughed quietly.  
  
"You must get that from me." He said.  
  
Legolas shrugged. "Well, after we would eat our breakfast, we would either go outside and talk, or we would go to my room." Thranduil's head snapped in Legolas' direction. "What? We would play my GameCube!" Legolas said indignantly. Thranduil calmed down, sighing.  
  
"What is a Game Cube?"  
  
"It's a virtual way to play games. You have controllers, and you play games portrayed on a box which shows moving pictures called a television." Legolas explained. "We both loved my GameCube, but Alí, being a girl, wasn't as interested." Legolas told his father. He really did wish that Middle Earth had televisions, GameCubes, and batteries, but he would have to live without them...  
  
"Father, enough about me. Tell me about you, and mother." Legolas asked him. Thranduil sighed in thought.  
  
"I am King. I do much of the business that you do not have to worry about until you are older. Your mother... she is quite the adventurous type. She would have fought in the last war, had her own father, and the law, allowed. She is beautiful. She has long light brown hair, beautiful, sparkling eyes, and the most enchanting laugh." Thranduil smiled widely as he thought of his wife. "You will meet her soon, she is currently back in Mirkwood." Thranduil told his son.  
  
Rivendell was coming back into view, and Legolas was finally getting the hang of riding the horse. When they came to a stop at the stables, Thranduil dismounted, and helped Legolas dismount as well. Legolas felt quite bowlegged, and felt all of a sudden much shorter.  
  
"I must excuse myself, I wish to speak with Lord Elrond. I will see you later, Legolas." Thranduil smiled, giving his son a hug, and a little kiss on his head.  
  
"Bye, father!" he called, as he ran in the other direction of his father. He went in search of Alí. He found her sitting at one of the fountains, and he ran over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. There seemed to be something wrong...  
  
"Hey, Alí!" he said cheerfully, trying to emanate enough of his own cheerfulness to her, hoping that she would pick some of it up.  
  
"Where have you been?" she asked. "You were gone a while."  
  
"Ada was teaching me how to ride a horse. It was fun!" Legolas told her. "What have you been up to?"  
  
"Oh, nothing. I've been just exploring a bit of the gardens. They are quite beautiful," she said, nodding in the direction of a large hedge, with a gate in the middle of it.  
  
"Cool." Legolas said. Now he knew something was wrong. The sadness resonating from was obvious. "Alí. You can't hide anything from me. What is wrong?" He asked, worriedly.  
  
"You know how your father came here," she started.  
  
"Yes." Legolas said, wondering where she was going.  
  
"Well, your father isn't just going to stay here with you. He's going to want to go home, to where he and his wife live. And he's going to take you." She replied, staring at her slipper shoes.  
  
Legolas was slightly dumbfounded. He had not thought of this... why was he so dumb? When Thranduil left, taking Legolas with him, it would be the first time in ten years that he and Alíana had ever been separated... what would happen to them? He didn't think that he could live without her! He hugged his sister, and whispered into her ear. "I would not leave you if I could. I would stay here, with you, and Ata, and I would not leave your side... ever. If I was separated from you, if anything happened, I would go to the end of the earth to find you," He told her. He kissed her cheek fondly.  
  
Alí beamed. She loved her brother so much... it was slightly overwhelming to feel those emotions. "You would go that far?" she asked, tears starting to well up in her eyes.  
  
"I would, seleramin. I would."  
  
A/N: LEGOLAS IS SO SWEET I JUST WANT TO EAT HIM ALL UP! *munches on Legolas cookie*  
  
Okay, well, I just want to send out thankies to all who have reviewed the last chappy, cookies for all of you! And you get... *improvises* Alí cookies next time you review! Yeah, Alí cookies... so REVIEW!  
  
~The Hobbit Ivy 


	7. Adjusting

**A/N: Well, I AM BACK! Shame on me for taking so damn long!! I have nothing to say but that I have been busy, and my Beta seemed to have forgotten my chapter for about a month... _glares at Shivvers_. **

**Disclaimer: I own Alíana, Liliana, Lauralin, Gildor, and a bunch of stuff... I also happen to own Elladan... I made him tell it to meh last night... _smirk_. Have a problem with that? You'll have to untie him from my bed, first! **

Chapter 7: Adjusting

"Elrohir, what are you doing?" Liliana murmured inquisitively into her lover's hair. He sneakily didn't answer, as he quickly closed the door and wrapped his arms around his beautiful wife.

"Giving you that wonderful night I promised you," Elrohir answered. He kissed her vigorously, and started unbuttoning her dress...

-----

Lauralin strolled through the gardens, barely noticing everything around her, just wishing that she had her CD player here to blast out the damned nature-music-crap that enchanted the night. Her sister was away with Legolas somewhere... _again, _and her mom and dad were in their bedroom doing whatever it was that parents do after years of separation… she didn't want to think what…

She was alone... again. As if she'd _ever_ had company. Her mother had always been in her room or cooking, Legolas and Alí had always been sitting in _trees_, and she had always been positioned in front of the TV, with a CD player, or a book... maybe all of those at once.

Now that she only had _books_ left, she decided that she would go outside and attempt to be an elf for once. At least attempt… She would have to get used to it after a while…

It wasn't happening.

"_Suilad_." Greetings A voice of a young-looking elleth spoke up from a bush.

"Hey..." Lauralin replied in a bored tone, stopping and staring up at the stars as if something interesting would happen up there...nothing was happening, though, so she brought her eyes down upon the young elf, who was looking straight back at her.

"Who are you? I have not seen you before here... are you from Lothlórien or Mirkwood?" The elf asked, getting up from her kneeling position.

"Neither. I've been living in another dimension... and I have no idea where in hell those places are." Lauralin answered, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. Who in their right mind would make up names such as 'Lothieyen'… or... 'Mirkywood…'

"My name is Selerelen." The girl stood up. She looked no older than Lauralin and was about the same height. She had light brown hair that was slightly wavy and she had soft brown eyes. "What is yours?" she asked politely.

"Lauralin Halfelven." Lauralin answered. The girls' eyes widened and an 'o' shape formed at her mouth.

"_Halfelven_? Are you a royal?" She asked, astounded.

"Sure, if that's what you want to say... My dad's Elrohir." She shrugged, looking down at her slippers.

"Another dimension?" It was just then Selerelen seemed to just realize where Lauralin had said she was from... she was fawning over Lauralin, and Lauralin actually _liked _it. This was the first time that she had had any attention in a long while. "Oooh! You have to meet my friends!" Selerelen said excitedly, grabbing Lauralin's wrist and dragging her back into the palace.

"My friends are Tindomë, Celima, and Enelya." Selerelen informed Lauralin as they both tore through the corridors of the palace, Lauralin almost dashing halfheartedly.

Selerelen led her to a rather large room, where girls were gathered in little groups; all braiding each other's hair and chattering away. "This is the room where all of the young _ellith_ congregate in the evenings." Selerelen told Lauralin. "After we turn 50 we are recognized as adults and can assemble wherever we like."

"Cool," Shrugged Lauralin. Selerelen led her to three girls all sitting on cushions and clutching goblets of what looked like water.

"Hello, Selerelen" Chirped the girl on the left, smiling sweetly at the newcomer also.

"_Suliad_!" Selerelen replied. "This is Lauralin Halfelven." She introduced her, gesturing to a large pillow in front of them. "Sit, please!" She prompted.

"Sure..." Lauralin answered, plopping herself down on a cushion and made herself as comfortable as she could in the godforsaken dress that she wore.

"Halfelven? As in...Royalty?" asked a blonde-haired elleth, after welcomes were exchanged.

"If you want to say that." Lauralin answered... she felt that she was answering that question too often...

"My name is Tindomë," the first blonde elf introduced herself. "I'm 47 years old." She told her, as if this was a piece of important information. "My father is one of the healers here." She nodded her head curtly.

"I am Enelya. I have lived for nearly 43 summers," Enelya introduced herself, repeating the nodding gesture.

"And my name is Celima. Tomorrow is the beginning of my 38th year of life." Again, she nodded like the others.

After a few birthday regards and a, "Nice to meet you all," Lauralin decided against bowing... she wasn't about to bow to these regular people... "My name is, as you know, Lauralin Halfelven... and I'm 10." She told them in an almost uncomfortable tone of voice. One by one, each of the four girls' mouths dropped open.

"You're only _10_?" Asked Tindomë, frowning.

"Only ten." Lauralin answered, nodding in the same fashion as everyone else had done before her.

"But, you look as if you have reached at least 40!" Argued Enelya.

"Nope. 10. Maybe being in the other world sped the growing process up or whatever..." Lauralin muttered, feeling quite uncomfortable.

"I've never heard of that word being used in such a way..." said a curious Celima.

"What word?"

"'Whatever'. Nobody says it here in that manner." She answered, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, sure..." Lauralin answered offhandedly.

Lauralin settled down onto her pillow, answering questions and letting the four _ellith_ fawn over her all they wanted.

'Oh, life here was sure to be sweet.' She thought.

-----

_Knock, knock_.

"Come in!" Alí called through the closed door. She was lying on her stomach, propped up on her elbows on the bench outside on her balcony. There was a thick book in front of her and she was still trying to digest the last couple lines of the sentence by lamplight as Legolas entered and crossed the room. She closed the enormous volume and he sat down beside her. He looked down at the worn cover of the book and read tarnished gold leaf letters:

"Tales of Arda". He leant forward and tried to absorb the length of the book.

"I wanted to read something, and Aunt Arwen suggested this one." She patted the cover lightly. "I'm not that far, I only started reading after dinner...then Ada and Ata came to say 'Hello and Goodnight'. They can't seem to find Lauralin, though." She added, running her first finger over the edge of the book. It was a small habit that greatly annoyed her darling sister. "Why have you come?" she asked after a silent minute or two.

"I was lonely and not tired at all, so I decided I would come here to stay with you." He asked rather than stated, almost knowing the answer.

"Of course!. I've discovered that it is extremely peaceful here.... I almost miss the sound of the highway." She grinned. "It's now replaced with the sound of that fountain over there." She pointed to where a fountain of a winged horse rearing upward and spouting water out of its mouth. It was in the middle of one of the many courtyards around the palace, surrounded by lilies and different flowers.

"I don't know, all the cars speeding past...if you wanted to play in the street, you were surely going to be run over at some point... yeah. I _really_ miss it..." Legolas replied sarcastically. "It'll take a while to get used to this world, though. I'm still baffled by everything here; my father's a king! I'm a prince! You're a princess..." he drifted off, fiddling thoughtfully with a leaf that had just fallen into his lap.

"There's so much here, I honestly didn't expect any of this." Alí whispered. Her eyes had been directed at the sky, the dark black abyss filled with variations of bright to dim stars. "It looks the same..." she muttered to herself.

"What does? Oh..." Legolas eyes followed Alí's to the heavens. "It is the same sky, although you can see more stars here, than back-" he paused, about to say 'home'. But the only thing was, it _wasn't_ home. It never was. Home was here, in Middle Earth.

Home was with Alí.

Legolas and Alí sat at the balcony watching the stars circle in the heavens all night, as they always did. Alí finally rested her head resting on Legolas' shoulder, and Legolas was very still. This was how Elrohir found his daughter and the King's son, looking up at the stars.

He stepped out onto the balcony of his own room, his wife trailing behind him holding a bed sheet around herself.

"Elrohir, _man na raeg?_" what is wrong? She asked, running her fingers lightly up his bare chest. Elrohir said nothing, but nodded his head towards Alí and Legolas. "'Tis nothing, _meleth nîn_, they do that every night." She whispered.

"Every night? You do not suspect anything? That their feelings are... _more_?" he murmured softly, his eyes flickering over to Ali and Legolas and then back to his wife.

"Every night." She replied. "And I cannot promise you about how they feel. It is none of our concern." She assured him. He still seemed to be unsure of how to be a father, because he had been deprived of the responsibility for a long time. Liliana kissed his neck and stood with him watching the sun rise over the valley.

-----

Legolas nudged Alí and whispered. "Look at Ata." Alí moved around him to see what he was so amused about and saw her mother and father; both were wearing the minimal amount of clothing, if it was clothing at all. Her mother was holding up a bed sheet to her chest, pressed lovingly against her father, who was wearing what looked like another sheet, which was tied low on his front. He was behind Lily, and his arms were wrapped around her middle. Even now he was planting loving kisses on her mother's neck.

"You really wanted me to see that?" she replied with a smile. She had never seen her mother act like this. She had always just been... _mother_. She had never been a wife, in Alí's eyes… or a lover, for that matter.

Legolas chuckled. "I thought you might enjoy it." They both stood up and ambled their way back inside, giving the lovers their privacy.

-----

Thranduil knocked on his son's door in the early hours of the day, just as the sun was rising.

No answer.

He knocked again. This time he was louder.

Still, no answer. The Elvenking furrowed his eyebrows.

He twisted the handle of the door and he found it unlocked. He walked into his son's room, expecting it to reveal a sleeping Legolas, but it was empty. The bed didn't have a single ruffle on the cover, except for a place on the end, where it looked like Legolas had sat there for a minute or two. A door of the wardrobe was open, and his new clothing seemed to be stuffed into it rather sloppily, as if he had half-heartedly done the job, quickly, nonetheless. The balcony door was cracked open, and the morning breeze swished the curtains about. Everything else was undisturbed.

He was about to walk into the room and check the balcony, but he heard a giggle behind him, coming from the hallway.

The young Princess Alíana and Legolas were emerging out of Alíana's room, both wearing large smiles.

'_I might have known..._' Thranduil thought.

He saw his son's face light up further as Alíana whispered something to him. Legolas looked so content and happy, that his father _hated_ that he had to take him away from his foster family; but it would have to be done. He would have to accustom to his new duties. A whole kingdom was expecting him back home…

Legolas couldn't stay with them forever.

-----

"This time, we go left." Legolas said, as they closed the door to Alí's room. Alí giggled. She leant forward and cupped a hand around Legolas' ear to whisper,

"This time, I won't argue... and rumor is, Ata gave the waffle recipe to the kitchens..." she grinned and started walking to the left down the hallway.

"Really?" Legolas' face lifted and he started to jog up to her side. He didn't notice his father watching their backs. When she didn't answer, he kept on asking the one word over and over again. When finally he was about to give up, she replied,

"No. But it got you to follow me like a lost puppy!" she laughed, as they turned into a new hallway.

"Hey!! That's not funny!" Legolas whined, cutely pouting a little.

"Sure it is!" she giggled as she caught sight of Legolas' face.

"Not!"

"Is."

"_Not!_"

"Is."

"Not infinity."

"Is infinity plus one..."

As the twosome always did, they argued childishly until they managed to find their way to the enormous dining hall, (having to double back quite often). They were silenced by Liliana with a meaningful glare. She was now wearing a beautiful dress. Liliana kissed them both on the cheek and greeted them with a cheerful, "Good morning!" Thranduil arrived and sat down with them at the High Table.

"_Maer aur!_" Good morning! he greeted. There was a glint of something in his eye. Alí and Legolas glanced at each other, as if to ask, '_Did you see that?'_

Several maids brought out wide platters heaped with fruits and breads, and placed in front of them what looked like orange juice, but when tasted, it revealed a taste much sweeter and seemingly more full-rounded in taste than just oranges; almost having hints of lemon and something like pineapple.

Alí forked a half of a strawberry and stuffed it into her mouth. It was so much better than any strawberry she had ever eaten in Earth! She tasted a piece of the next fruit over, which happened to be a slice of apple. It was equally as exquisite.

She heard a soft _cling _of metal to her left, and when glancing at Legolas, it revealed him stuffing his face. Every once and a while, his teeth would hit the metal fork, (which had made the _cling_ noise), but nobody else had noticed.

"Do you like your breakfast, Legolas?" Liliana joked, leaning over to see her foster son down the table, his cheeks stuffed with food. He almost certainly represented a hamster.

Legolas said nothing (his mouth was full) but he nodded his head vigorously. He swallowed the enormous amount of food he had in his mouth, and instead of leaning back in his chair and waiting for Alí to finish her breakfast so they could leave, he dived into Alí's plate.

"Hey, hey, hey! That's _mine_!" Alí snatched at her plate and shoved him lightly out of the way.

"But..." he whined. "But..."

"No 'but's! if you want more food, ask Lauralin. She's not eating anything, as usual." Alí pointed at her little sister. "Or get some more off the platter"

Lauralin had finally turned up out of nowhere. She was in the same dress as yesterday, and she looked very tired, as if she hadn't rested at all. She had her fork in her hand and was rearranging the fruit on her plate. Right now, she had arranged what looked like a smiley face with its tongue sticking out.

Legolas stood up and went to his sister. "Lauralin, may I take some off of your plate... please?" he added as an afterthought.

"Take it!" Lauralin answered in a bored tone. "Just leave some of the strawberries." She called after him as he took her plate.

"Alright, darling sis!" he answered, sitting down and immediately shoveling fruit from her plate to his own.

Alíana rolled her eyes and focused on her own (nearly empty) plate. She didn't want to look too uncivilized in front of all the elves in the hall, and so she ate slowly. Soon, though much too soon for her liking, her plate was empty. Legolas left for an archery lesson with his father. Alí was just wondering what she would do, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Behind her stood her father.

"_Iell nîn,_ my daughter , care to spend the morning with your father?" he smiled lovingly.

"Sure!" Alí agreed, ready for anything. "But don't I have to get all pretty and junk first?" she asked.

"No." Elrohir laughed. "Not today, or better said, not yet." He offered Alí his arm and both of them walked outside.

As soon as they had walked outside of the doors, Alí was met with bright sunshine, and the wonderful earthy smell of the gardens.

"Ada?"

"Yes, Alíana?" Elrohir asked, putting an arm around his daughter.

"Can you answer me something?" Alí asked. She had wanted to ask her father this question so badly. Before now, her mother had always avoided the question with a muttered 'I think I smell something burning' or 'You'll know when the time comes'. Now, she really wanted to know.

"Why were we sent to the other dimension? _Why_?" Alí asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

Elrohir averted his eyes from his daughter. She was still so young… she didn't _need_ to know now… of course; she had been deprived of an answer for the longest time… But… "Alíana, I need to think about this. I can't explain it all without your mother here. I am sorry." He said. He squeezed her shoulder with his hand and gave her a kiss on her head. "I will speak with your mother now, if that helps." He offered. Alí sighed. _'So close…'_ she thought.

"That's alright…" she muttered, not hiding the disappointment in her voice. Elrohir kissed her forehead, and quickly left to talk with Liliana. Alí still wanted to stay outside, because it was so beautiful out here. She wandered down the paths and was about to go out onto the grounds to find Legolas, but…

"And what would a beautiful maiden be doing out of the palace all alone, may I dare ask?" A beautiful voice asked from behind her. Alí jumped and turned to see the most handsome being she had ever laid eyes on.

"I would ask you the same question. Why are you alone out here, my lord?" she asked aloud, but bursting within her was the word 'WOW!' one hundred times over.

"I enjoy these gardens." He gestured with both arms around him.

"Yeah, me too…" she said, sounding suddenly shy and uncertain. '_wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW!'_ her mind was saying. She tried to stop thinking it, but it was almost like a broken record.

The handsome elf, slightly taller than Legolas with light brown hair and dark ocean blue eyes was so charming. He looked strong, even from a distance, and he looked about 18 years old or so. His eyes were dark, mysterious, and inviting.

He was bordering perfect. No… he _was_ perfect.

'_Wooooooow.......' _her mind finally sighed, before floating up somewhere to a cloud.

"My name is Gildor," he offered his name once he had approached her.

"I'm...Alíana..." Alí replied shyly and slowly. Gildor bent onto one knee and kissed her hand, sending shivers up and down Alí's spine.

"A pleasure to meet you, Alíana." He said smoothly, "Would you like to walk with me?" offered the elf smoothly.

"Uh..." What was she supposed to say? "Sure..." she replied breathlessly. '_Stupid answer...'_ she thought. He was _definitely _'Wow' material, (as her mind reminded her constantly), but... Oh well. He was harmless.

-----

I saw the young girl from afar and I instantly knew her name. I hadn't seen her before and so therefore she had to be the girl who arrived in this world just yesterday. She was a Peredhil; Royalty... my key in.

I turned on my charm and approached her... it must be some kind of luck that every she-elf I meet falls in love with me. She looked instantly taken with me, and furthermore, she seemed nervous and shy...

_Perfect_.

A/N: Enjoy? Now... please leave a pretty review for me! PLEASE!! Kudos to Shivvers for forgetting to send this chapter to me when she'd finished betaing it! _Smirks again_. (Just teasing you, you know! ;) )

Ivy 12/4/04


	8. Gildor

A/N: This is my chapter! That I've been working on for... oh, at least five months. Probably more. Gosh... how long has it been? ForEVER, that's for sure! So anyway, sorry about the delay. Hooray for the end of school happening, which means more updates (hopefully). Thank you to Lucía for making me realize that I have to get off my butt and update this! And thank you to Shivvers for... well, just being there. Because you always are. :D

Disclaimer: Tolkien is god. I am not. I like phrases. Phrases are good. They are short... This is short. Get over it.

oOo

"...So who is this _Gildor_ person?" Legolas asked.

"He's wonderful... He's the son of one of the palace guards, and he's in training for it now... I really like him..." Alí said dreamily. As always, she and Legolas were out on Alí's balcony staring at the stars. They both felt very comfortable in their positions on the floor of the balcony. Alí had her head on Legolas' stomach, feeling it rise and fall with every breath of air. Several shooting stars erupted, and both elves laughed. So perfect was their world now...

"When will I get to meet him?" Legolas asked after a moment of silence.

"I'm sure that you'll see him soon... it's hard to miss him! He's so handsome..." she added, quite randomly.

"What about me?" Legolas asked, raising his head off of the ground to look at her. She craned her neck backwards and looked him in the eye.

"Ah... well... you're..." she shrugged. "...Iish..." A silence followed her odd words, until both of them burst out laughing at the same time. The entire valley seemed to echo with their mirth.

"What kind of a word is 'iish'?" Legolas sniggered.

"Iish... you know... 'so-so'..." Alí shrugged. "I dunno... you figure it out. Legolas rolled his eyes and then closed them. This was perfect.

I saw that _prince_ practicing clumsily with his knives at one of the training pitches. As I approached, I saw him attempt a rather difficult maneuver with the blades, and as he twirled one blade he misplaced one of his fingers and the piece of training metal fell from his grip. He sighed loudly and slumped to pick it up and attempt to do it again, but my call startled him.

"My Prince," I said loudly from where I was leaning casually on a tree.

"What?" he asked.

"You know the Lady Alíana?" I asked, already knowing the answer to that. He only spent every waking hour with her.

"Yes? What about Alí?" He asked concernedly, seeming to automatically assume the worst.

"Nothing is wrong with her! I just wished to know that I am speaking to the right person!" I held up my hands and started to amble towards him. "My name is Gildor." I said when I was within five feet of the young elf. The Prince's face brightened.

"Oh Gildor! Alí speaks of you all the time!" he said cheerfully. "Pleasure to meet you!" he said.

"Alíana does speak of you often enough," I added casually. Alíana practically didn't _shut up_ about this Prince Brother of hers. But idle conversation was not why I was here. "I have but a simple question of you: Are you involved with her any way romantically?" I asked point-blank.

The Prince looked quite shocked, and immediately answered, "No. Why?"

"Just a question!" I held up my hands again. "Thank you... have a nice day." I said, slinking back into the shadows.

Well... that went well. Next phase, please.

oOo

As Gildor walked away, Legolas glared at his back. It was not like Legolas to dislike someone on their first encounter, but he did not like the way that Gildor talked. Or the way that he moved... very unnaturally smoothly; as if he were trying to charm his onlookers.

"Legolas! Legolas!" It was Alí! Legolas discarded his troubled thoughts of Gildor the guard, and turned to face his sister. She vaulted into him, hugging him and actually knocking him to the ground.

"Alí! What has gotten into you?" Legolas laughed. She straddled his stomach and had her hands on his shoulders, pinning him to the ground.

"I don't know... I just haven't seen you in a while... do you want to go swimming?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Legolas jumped at the opportunity. "I found a great place to go to! Follow me!" he called, picking up his knives and running into the forest. Alí joyfully followed him, giggling in excitement as she ran.

Legolas eventually led her to what looked like a cliff. "Legolas?" she asked as she slowed down.

"Do you like it?" he asked, turning to face her. She peered over the edge, and saw a magnificent lake, sparkling in the sunlight overhead. There was a drop of about twenty feet from the ledge to the water level. She squealed and hugged him tightly.

"How did you find this?" she asked. Legolas started to take off his shirt and boots, setting them down on the cliff. "What are you doing?" she changed her question as he did this.

"Going swimming, what else?" he replied. He was unlacing his boots, and grinning to himself.

"But how will we get down there?" she asked him worriedly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He padded silently over to the ledge. He didn't answer her again.

"Take off your dress, you wouldn't want that getting wet," he suggested to her. She did so, but not taking her eyes off of her brother. When she was done, she joined Legolas at the edge.

"Ready?" he asked, his eyes glittering.

"We're not going to jump are we?" she read the answer in his laughing eyes. "Oh gosh, we are!" but before she finished getting the words out of her mouth, Legolas had scooped her up off her feet and jumped out into the water, holding her like a baby. She screamed and clung onto him, and when they hit the water, she ended up swallowing some water. She rose to the surface of the pleasantly cold water coughing up water and glaring at Legolas when he arose too.

She drew one hand back and slapped him. Hard.

"Ow!" he laughed. "Oh come on, Alí! You would have never jumped had I not forced you to!"

"I KNOW! AND I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR MAKING ME!" she shouted, diving at him and forcing him under water.

They wrestled and swam in the water for hours until the sun went down. When they showed up dripping water and holding their dry clothes in the large entrance hall, they were quickly shooed to their rooms. Hours into the night, Alí crept across the hall and joined Legolas in his room, curling up beside him in his bed and talking to him for hours more.

oOo

Unfortunately, it all had to end sometime...

"Legolas, don't go! Please don't go!" Alí whimpered, eyes glistening with tears she was shedding without recoil. Legolas stood next to his white horse at the gates; his own tears spilling out of his sapphire eyes as well.

"I have to, Sister. I don't want to, but I have to!" he whispered to Alí, hugging her tightly. He really didn't want to leave his sister in Rivendell, but his father had allowed him to stay as long as time allowed. His mother was anxious to see her son. So finally, after six months of adjustment to Middle Earth, the time finally came when Legolas Greenleaf and Alíana Halfelven were to part for the first time in their lives.

"Alí, have this. It will remind you of me while I am gone." Legolas took out a chain and placed it into her hands. It was a _mithril_ chain, unbreakable, and it had a pendant on the end of it of a green leaf, shimmering with forest green emeralds. Thranduil had given it to him, telling him that it was the royal family's symbol, and that his mother had it made for him before he was born; to be given to him when he was old enough to treasure it.

"Legolas, no," Alí sniffed, unfolding her hand and thumbing the smooth jeweled surface. "It is yours," she tried to push it back into Legolas hands, but he refused to take it.

"Not anymore. It is yours now," he told her. Liliana and Lauralin approached Legolas, interrupting him and Alí. She stepped backwards, not stemming the flow of tears that were cascading down her cheeks.

Both Liliana and Lauralin hugged Legolas tightly, telling him their goodbyes and telling him to come back soon. Legolas hugged them both fondly, but his eyes were still fixed on the beauty of his other sister. She wasn't looking at him; she was still fiddling with his chain. When Liliana and Lauralin replaced themselves beside Elrohir, Legolas approached Alí again. He said nothing, but gently pried the chain out of her hands. He put it over her head. The chain was slightly longer than where her dress neckline came up to, and when she moved the jewel subtly tucked itself inside of her shirt next to her heart.

"Legolas, you can't leave without me... Take this, since you cannot have me with you. You deserve this as much as you say I deserve your pendant." She reached into an unseen pocket and brought out a polished, heart-shaped locket. When he opened it up, it showed a picture of him, standing behind Alí, hugging her, while she was sitting on a swing. They looked no older than 10. They were both smiling at the camera; they had the most angelic smiles that showed how happy they were together...

How happy they would always be.

"Thank you," he croaked. He gave her another tight hug. His salty tears leaked onto her, and joined with the tears that she shed. He gripped the chain tightly, and the locket dangled from his fist.

She held onto him tightly and whispered, "Come back for me."

"I will... I swear I will..." They stood there for all of eternity, and finally broke apart. As if in a movie that had come to a dramatic part in slow motion, Legolas mounted his horse and followed his father out of the gates.

He looked back one last time, letting her see his face again, before he turned and slowly sank out of sight. The elves that had gathered to see the King and Prince off were slowly leaking out of the courtyard and back to their daily business, but Alíana stood there, sniffling, and not bothering to wipe her tears away. Her hand darted into her neckline, and brought out the jewel she was just given a few moments ago. She felt a strong arm on her shoulder and she found her father was standing there comforting her.

She couldn't bear it, she _couldn't_ have any more tears left to spare, but she felt like she was being ripped in two... Legolas wasn't here anymore. He was gone.

He left.

...He's gone...

oOo

A/N: DONE. Nada mas. Well... until the next chapter anyway. Too late for thanks right now... except for Lucía, because she's my cool new friend. I like cool new friends.

End of semester in... 10 days for me. So HOORAY. SUMMER! I'm off to England this summer, so all of y'all in England should flock around me and say hello. ;) (yes, I said "Y'all" Get over it.)

Oh, you all should check out my original story on my FictionPress account! My penname there is 'Tae Kwon Do Elf'. There's only one story there... you can't miss it:)

The Hobbit Ivy

May 12, 2005 9:27 PM


	9. Letters

**A/N: Hello faithful readers! **

**Here is a brand new spiffy chapter... It's taken me ages to complete, just because my mind has been revolting lately and every time I sat down to work on it no words came out. Last night I managed to take a virtual sledgehammer to the brick wall I've come to see as my writers block, and here is what I came up with. **

**This chapter is full of letters. I thought it was a good way to show that time was passing... so if any of you are confused, just let me know and I'll be sure to explain/correct it in the future.**

**Disclaimer: It ain't mine. All that is mine are people like Gildor, Aliana, Lauraliln, etc. I also claim rights to that bush over there. And the sparrow. And the flower. **

**_Chapter 9 : Letters_**

_Dear Legolas,_

_I am finally replying to your, hold on, let me count... seventeen letters you have sent so far. Seventeen? I am sorry I have not replied sooner, but I have not had any spare time recently, for reasons I will tell you right... now!_

_Every day I have lesson upon lesson, and it's getting extremely tedious. I wish I had another teacher. Glorfindel doesn't put up with any nonsense... he isn't any fun at all! Lauralin is lucky... she doesn't have any lessons until she turns 13... _

_On the more interesting side, I have learned how to ride horses expertly, thanks to Uncle Elladan. I've also convinced Uncle Elladan to even mentor me in archery! It's much more difficult than you say... especially with the wooden bows instead of the easy plastic ones that we had back... (well, it isn't exactly 'home' anymore...) back in the other world. Maybe I'll be able to learn to wield a sword sometime. Every night my muscles ache from training, but that is quickly fading. (hooray!) Aunt Arwen insists on teaching me how to be a lady... manners, and the whole sha-bang. It's more interesting than the lessons Glorfindel has, but sitting up straight and learning to ballroom dance aren't the most important things on my to-do list. _

_I hope your life in Greenwood have been going well. How is your mother? Is she doing well? And your father? (king! I still can't get over that...) I hope you're getting to know each other. You and (King!) Thranduil really seemed to 'click' last time I saw you. I hope that hasn't changed._

_Gildor and I are getting really close. He tells me of all sorts of places far from Rivendell... so many places I would love to visit! I may even get to see you in Greenwood someday. Daddy and Grandfather keep promising... _

_Well, in the meantime, Arwen is waiting for me in the doorway. I will send this sometime today. _

_Love, your (favorite) sister,_

_Alíana_

Legolas sighed happily as he folded up Alíana's letter again. Finally, a reply letter from her! He set the letter to one side, pulling out a piece of paper to reply on. He dipped a quill in ink, and started to reply.

_(Number 18)_

_To my (favorite) sister,_

_Thank you for replying... I would much rather see you or hear your voice (telephone, anyone?), but I guess this will have to do. You have lovely handwriting... did you know that? Well, for your convenience, I will now number my letters to you. You see I have done so already. _

_Luckily, Greenwood is not as boring as it is obviously in Rivendell. I have lessons, too, but I find them quite interesting. And I'm quickly becoming notorious for my archery skills, which absolutely soared since my arrival here four months ago. Hard to believe I could get any better, isn't it? It's quickly become my favorite thing to do, (aside from eating!) _

_You will never guess what I am going to get in eight months time... a baby brother! It seems that Mom and Dad were a little too excited to have me back... and now I will stop writing about this, so the images will go away. (ahh!)_

_I am happy for you and Gildor. He seemed nice, when I met him._

_Well, _my_ father is promising to send me back to Rivendell sometime to see you, as I keep pestering him to. Maybe you can bother your grandfather into letting in a poor, needy elf such as myself into your care for a few weeks? It will be just like old times. _

_And now I go to my studies, have fun with yours!_

_Your (only, but favorite) brother,_

_Legolas_

_(for the eighteenth time)_

Legolas folded it up and sealed it with a wax seal that Thranduil had given him. He glanced around his room. It was early morning, and Legolas still had no shirt on. He stood up and stretched, walking outside of his room and onto his balcony, letting the crisp late autumn air play across his skin. Greenwood was everything Legolas had remembered, and _much_ more. It was vast, full of trees (great for climbing into and surprising unsuspecting passers-by) and it was full of activity. The palace was large and full of many confusing corridors. It was huge, compared to many of the village halls and houses, but as large as it was above ground, it had masses of space under ground in natural caves.

It had been four months since his departure from Rivendell, his first time apart from Alíana. It had been hard at first, not seeing her smile or feeling her friendly presence beside him every day, but time heals wounds, they say. And time, however short the time was, had assured him that separation was not going to ruin their relationship. Nothing would come between them. Alíana (now) wrote letters to him, and he wrote letters to her. Most of them were along the same lines as the one he had just written that morning, that life was boring without her, and that lessons were interesting, and that he missed her dearly. The only real exception to this letter was the news of his mother's pregnancy... which has only just become apparent to the rest of the world, and which Legolas had only discovered last night.

As Legolas thought back to her letter, he thought back to Alíana's comment about her and Gildor... that elf had a bad aura around him, Legolas had sensed it the first time he had met him. And he becoming close to Alí disturbed Legolas. He hoped that Gildor would quickly disappear... or die on one of those scouting missions that Alí mentioned he was on, and how she missed him. Legolas didn't want to tell her of his feelings about her Gildor, but he was afraid that every letter that would he would become more and more wary of his constant 'I'm happy for you's... which he was positive he would do. Someday he would have to break it to her before she fell too deeply in... he hated to think someone could love Gildor.

Legolas reentered his room and dressed for the day, braiding his hair and trying to look as princely as possible... his Father said it came naturally, but Legolas was still having trouble pulling it off. He grabbed the letter and tucked it inside of his shirt before he left the room. He stopped off at a room where messages were sorted through. There was a friendly elf sitting at the desk who was pouring over records of some sort.

He stood up as Legolas entered, bowing to the Prince. "Good morning, my Lord Legolas," he said in a friendly tone of voice. "You have another one for that princess of yours?" he guessed before Legolas could say anything.

"Yes, Teithan," Legolas said, slightly sheepishly.

"You're writing to her almost weekly!" Teithan observed, taking Legolas' letter and slipping it into a slot that had the word '_Imladris_' written across the front of it. Greenwood had one of the best message services, and it was very proud of that fact. It reminded Legolas of local post offices in the other world.

"I miss her a lot," Legolas said, Alíana's smiling face came to his mind, which in turn made him smile.

"Could it be more of a feeling that a simple 'I miss her'?" Teithan winked. Legolas was brought back to reality. He evaded Teithan's question by saying,

"I'll see you later, Teithan. No doubt next week with my next letter," Legolas smiled. "Thank you."

"Any time, my Prince," Teithan inclined his head to Legolas before returning to his reading, and Legolas left the room.

oOo

_Dear Legolas, _

_I am sorry I have not written. I'm such a bad elf... I have been so busy! (again...) I got all of your letters... this is response to number thirty-one, I believe. I know I haven't got time to answer them all, but it is lovely to hear from you so often, Legolas. I really do love it. _

_Glorfindel insists I am not even close to knowing all I need to know of Elven History and Lore, and every day I am busy with things such as training in Archery or horse riding. It is so much more than our lazy days back home! I almost miss it a little..._

_Wow! A little brother! I wish I had a little brother. He would be less annoying than Lauralin. I could even teach him the beginners ropes of horseback riding... (which I am very good at now, by the way)._

_I can't seem to think of anything else but Gildor these days... he told me he loved me! And I love him. It has been nine months since we met... he is so charming, and handsome, and mysterious... it always sends shivers up and down my spine when we kiss... have you found a lover? I really recommend it! Oh the feeling of love is bliss! I'm so happy Gildor chose me. _

_Well, I hope to write soon, but who knows whether that will come true!_

_-Alíana _

Legolas gritted his jaws again, and set down the paper. _More_ lovey-duvvy, mushy-gushy _crap_ about Gildor. Why did she have to reiterate this every letter? Honestly... did she have any _other_ life besides the one that Gildor and her shared? What of the life she had lived before? She had been perfectly happy in that life! _They_ had been perfectly happy in that life.

Alí had sent him a total of four letters... _FOUR_. And there Legolas was, writing every week, with 31 letters total.

Needless to say, Legolas was _not_ in a very good mood.

He rose from his desk and turned to grab his bow and quiver from where they were laid carelessly yesterday on a table and whirled out of his room. His thoughts blurred and he found he couldn't sort one thought from the other. He marched outside, still not exactly clear on why he was reacting to Alí's letter this way.

Legolas couldn't _wait_ to vent his energy on something worthwhile.

"If I was back on Earth, I would be blasting aliens right now on the GameCube..." Legolas muttered darkly to himself. His mind was so distracted that he hardly noticed what he was doing, and his archery was becoming careless and quite terrible. He completely missed the target frequently, which only set him in even _more _of a towering mood.

What was _with_ him today!

He was so focused on venting his anger that he did not notice his mother approaching. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, and her belly was swollen with child. She looked regal.

"What is wrong, Tithenglas ("_Little Leaf"_)," she asked. Legolas merely grunted, acknowledging her presence. "Don't try to hide something from your mother. It is impossible," she added. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing, mother..." he said, though at the look on his mother's face, he continued. "I don't know. Things just haven't been happening right recently," Legolas shuffled his feet, his eyes staring everywhere but at his mother.

"Walk with me, and tell me about it," His mother offered her arm to Legolas. Slightly uncomfortable, he took it and walked with her. He loved his mother dearly, but he didn't really want to tell her what was on his mind. But his mother had the talent of persuasion, and he found himself spilling out his most private thoughts and worries for Alíana...about how _annoying_ it was that she wasn't writing to him and that every time she did all she did was gush about Gildor and about how boring her life was.

"She's taking me for granted... and I don't like it," Legolas said moodily.

"She has no right to do that," Legolas' mother agreed. "Though, it sounds like a certain son of mine is a little jealous," his mother raised her eyebrows when Legolas turned away.

"Jealous? Me? I'm not jealous," Legolas knew he might as well be growing a nose, like Pinocchio's. He was downright lying to his mother.

"Legolas," his mother said firmly, stopping them in their tracks and placing her hands on both of his shoulders. "I know how much you love Alíana. You are closer to her than you are to myself or your father. If you miss her so much and you resent her choice of lover, you need to _tell_ her. She will not figure it out on her own."

Legolas didn't want to have to tell her. She should _know_! A million things about the past months of separation, a million doubts, a million wishes, a million thoughts rushed into Legolas' head. He resented everything about what he was thinking, but he wasn't about to do anything about it.

"I won't tell her. She'll just have to grow a brain and figure it out," he said childishly. He knew he was going about the situation wrongly, but he didn't care anymore.

He didn't want to care anymore.

**A/N:Ooh... Legolas is maaaaaad! I don't know why, but this ending to the chapter just seemed to work a lot better than the other endings I tried. I guess it makes sense to someone to channel emotional torment into anger... and poor Legolas being ignored is not something he likes! Well anyway... h****ere are the Review Responses to the last chapter! **

**_4EverGlenda_ - :) You're definately my friend, even if we only talk occasionally. It's always fun to chat with you... even if my spanish sucks sometimes... often... Oh you know what I mean!**

**_Harmony 99_ - Your reviews make me smile! You rock my world because you're so happy and bubbly and you review! And yes, I do have AIM and MSN. AIM - IvyTheGreat1889 or Tinuviel2013; and MSN I've added you to my AIM, so I hope to hear from you!**

**_XeNaPuMpKiN_ - Sorry about the wait, girl! Hope you did well on that physics final last year! ;) I am quite bad about cliffhangers, aren't I?**

**_Black as the Shadows_ - Your wish is my command. ca-ching**

**Four reviews? I know more people read this! I promise to update more often if more of you say 'hello' to me! ;) Hope you enjoyed, and much love from this authoress!**

**3 The Hobbit Ivy**


	10. Time Kills

**A/N: Hello, devoted fans! Welcome to the world of FASTER UPDATES! I've hit a stride and I can't wait to keep writing more and wrapping this story UP! I'm afraid you're only going to hate me more for the next two chapters or so (chapter 11 is in the beta factory right now...). So, here's chapter 10... do enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Yo ho yo ho! A writer's life for me. I don't own a thing, except that old swing, drink up me hearties yo ho. I enjoy creating and people start hating (me) la la la la la la yo ho! Yo ho yo ho!A writer's life for MEEEEE! **

* * *

**_Chapter 10: Time Kills_**

_Dear Legolas_

_Where have your letters gone? I miss hearing from you. You've been really distant lately; not only in body, but your last letter seemed so... absent. I miss you a lot. _

_Much love from your old family and your favorite sister, _

_Alíana_

_Dear Legolas_

_Why are you ignoring me? What have I done?_

_-Alíana _

_Dear Legolas_

_I won't write anymore if you don't answer. _

_Dear Legolas_

_This is my last letter… unless you write back. I miss you terribly. Why don't you write to me? Don't you love me anymore?_

Legolas set down the most recent letter from Alí, smoothed it out a few times with his hands. He fought to control his urge to write a letter to her, to beg forgiveness for not writing. _She deserves it_, he rationalized with himself. _She pushed me aside when I needed her support, and now I'm doing the same to her._ But Legolas couldn't convince himself, and so he ignored his guilt, preferring to replace it with anger at her.

There had been many more letters such as the one he was staring at now. Even one from Elrohir saying that Alí was suffering from Legolas' lack of communication. But Legolas was not going to break his newly formed habit of ignoring Alí. He didn't need her for his happiness. Anyway... habits die hard.

* * *

There was a celebration in honor of the new Woodland prince, Aglar. Aglar had come into the world the night before and the King was content to burst. Rumor flooded through the villages that the firm ruler of the wood had been seen singing and dancing in the halls of the house, though no one could confirm the rumor. 

Legolas couldn't have been moodier, but he couldn't have appeared happier. He smiled and assured everybody that his new brother was as brilliant as his name foretold/suggested. Legolas, playing the social butterfly, seemed at home amongst the celebrations, dancing around the ceremonial fires to the joyful music. Legolas found that if he just pushed everything aside, he could really enjoy himself. He was young and he was handsome... why shouldn't he enjoy himself? Why drag his spirits down with memories of Alí and Lauralin and his past life?

"Congratulations, Prince Legolas," a maiden's voice floated into his ear. He turned and saw a beautiful, though not stunning girl who looked a little younger than himself.

"Congratulations for what? Strapping my father to the chair so he would stop pacing while my mother was in labor?" Legolas joked with the girl. She pulled him into the throng of elves who were dancing merrily and twirled around him alluringly.

"You know what I mean," she winked. "It is customary for everyone to offer their congratulations... though I want to offer much_ more_ than that," she said with a seductive smile. She radiated desire and passion, and Legolas found he could not ignore that. In response to her flirting, his own passions rose and his blood pumped. He concentrated on keeping his true emotions in tow, as well as the fact that he was new and inexperienced at the game people called 'love'.

"I am interested in what you could offer, my lady. Perhaps you could start with your name?"

"Faewen," she supplied her name.

"My lady Faewen," Legolas kissed her hand. Her eyes gleamed with desire, and without any more pretenses she tugged Legolas out of the crowd and pressed her mouth to his.

After a moment of shock, Legolas relaxed into her kiss. She knew what she was doing and he didn't, he realized with slight dismay. She deepened the kiss and snaked her arms up and around his shoulders. Legolas forgot who he was, he forgot everything, in the midst of his first kiss.

Faewen pulled back from their kiss and said, "I can offer you a lot, my Prince." Legolas bent down and kissed her again.

* * *

Alíana ran out of the palace again and jumped on her horse, tears streaming down her face. She kicked the mare into action and rode out of Greenwood empty handed and broken hearted. Ever since she had moved to Lórien with her great-grandmother and aunt, she had frequented trips to Greenwood. Every time she had discovered that Legolas was away. Finally, she had managed to arrive when he was there. She had talked with his mother and found out that he was still asleep. Legolas' mother had told Alí where Legolas' room was and Alí had found him inside. However, she had also discovered two naked maidens wrapped around him, sleeping. Seeing him like this felt like a knife stabbed straight into Alí's heart. 

Tears coursed down her cheeks. Had Legolas forgotten about her? Did he really hate her, as she suspected he did? There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, and he would not respond to any of her letters. It had been nearly a thousand years since they had arrived in Middle Earth. They say time heals. But it also kills. It kills slowly and painfully...

Alí frequented the trip between Greenwood, and Lórien so often that she knew the landscape between the two forests like the back of her hand. Often, she stayed for a month or two in Greenwood getting to know Legolas' family and friends, living with the wood elves, and learning about their culture.

She had heard of Legolas' reputation. It was hard to escape. You could see it in people's eyes when you knew what to look for... and Alí knew.

Legolas was trashing his reputation and Alí could feel her feminine instincts flaring up and wishing that she could do something about it. She wanted to sit Legolas down and talk to him, tell him he was wrong, that she had been wrong, that they should just start over...

Involuntarily, Alí clutched at the leaf-shaped pendant that Legolas had given her when they had separated. The green jewels inside it were just as bright as ever, and they sparkled deceptively in the sun. They were always so bright... when Alí felt like her world should be dark and gloomy. She missed Legolas so badly that she wanted to cry.

She didn't know why Legolas had stopped writing. She had loved his letters, all up until letter 32. She remembered how his handwriting was stiff, and there was a distinctive lack of warmth that his handwriting usually showed. He had sounded distant and cold... nothing like his usual self. _There is no point in dwelling on what it was like... _What her life had been like, it had all changed now.

Hours later, she crossed the river Anduin, just as the sun was rising. She rode through the huge _mellyrn_, the trees which never ceased to amaze her. But this morning, even with _Anor_ (the sun shining his bright, orange morning light upon their white trunks, nothing could distract her from the sight of her brother in the arms of those two... _whores_.

She stabled her horse and ascended the many steps of the _mallorn_ tree which housed her _talan_. The _telain_ of this tree were reserved for the nobles of the wood, and because she was the great granddaughter of Galadriel, apparently she qualified.

She sunk into her bed when she entered her bedroom and fell into an Elven sleep.

* * *

Legolas grunted when he awoke. He blinked in the morning, and the sun shone right into his eyes, causing him to cry out and shut his eyes. His head ached, as if someone had lodged an axe between his eyes... and they might as well have just dropped him from a tree, for his whole body ached too. 

He risked opening his eyes and, squinting, he saw three bottles of Dorwinion wine lying on the floor. Did he drink that? Surely he hadn't...

He then saw the two maidens on either side of him. He hadn't noticed them until the one on his right had sighed in her sleep and had rolled over, to face him. There was no doubt in his mind what had happened last night. He even remembered a little bit of it... _concentrate_, he told himself. He tried to remember.

Wait, no... it hurt to concentrate. Better to just block it all out. With this thought, he roused the maidens on either side of him from their sleep, and they caught on quickly enough. Soon, he'd forgotten all about... what was it he was forgetting about?

* * *

Aglar tried to block the penetrating shrieks of his brother's current choices of lovers. (_Lovers_... as in, _plural_. Sometimes Legolas disgusted him...) Unfortunately, he was an elf, and even their literally rock solid walls could not hold the sounds in and away from Elven ears. And if Aglar was hearing it, surely his mother and father were hearing it, too. 

As if on cue, his mother, still beautiful after all this time and worry, entered and perched herself on the edge of the bed in what Aglar thought was a queen-like fashion.

"I worry for him," she said simply. Aglar knew without asking who she was talking about: Legolas. They had this conversation enough these days.

"As do I," he said. He looked so much more like his mother than his brother did. He and his mother shared thick brown hair. His brother and father had beautiful blonde hair.

"He is becoming a drunk," his mother said, pain evident in every syllable she uttered, "as if he isn't one already." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She was in despair for her son. "I wish I could do something to make him see sense... but he insists on ignoring his pain. He misses his sister dearly, even if he insists on denying it." Aglar knew Alí quite well, since she had visited quite often in the past few years. He found her very sweet, very beautiful, and very worried for Legolas. Aglar found himself harboring his own feelings for the maiden. He realized he was daydreaming again, and he brought himself out of it.

"What could we do, Mother? What could we do to make him see through his nonsense?" Aglar whispered. It was a question that he had asked a million times, and he feared he would ask it a million times more.

"Your father and I think to enroll him in the guard... it would distract him enough from... drinking. It would keep him away for long periods of time, and he would make friends," she hated sending her son away to the dangerous world, but she feared it was the only way to save her son from his self-imposed ruin.

"That is a good idea, mother!" Aglar wished he could have put more enthusiasm behind the statement. He would miss his brother, but Legolas was the best archer in the wood. He would serve his people well.

* * *

"Good morning, Alí," Gildor said, kissing Alí awake. 

Alí sighed. She hadn't had nearly enough sleep as she would have liked, but the sight of the beautiful Gildor chased away all of her resent. Gildor only showed up on her doorstep occasionally, because of his guard duties, (he was captain now), and she cherished the short time with him when he was in Lórien.

"Good morning," she murmured against his lips. She pulled him down on top of her, into her bed, and he did not object.

Alí remembered the first time that she had slept with Gildor. It had been the hardest, and yet the easiest, decision of her life thus far, and she had not regretted it. That had been a long time ago... a very long time ago. Since then she'd only grown more fond of Gildor. He was her rock, her stronghold, the one constant in her life.

"I heard that you went in search of your Prince yesterday," he said, rolling off of her. She snuggled into his neck, enjoying his scent. It reminded her of freshly carved wood and cool river water.

"I did..." she said.

"And did you find him?" Gildor asked casually. This was a conversation that they had often enough.

"I don't want to talk about Legolas," Alí said. She could taste the uncomfortable feeling that she got when she had seen Legolas for the first time in a thousand years, seen him in bed with two others.

"I understand," Gildor murmured, kissing her nose lightly. He couldn't help suppressing the feeling of triumph that his Alíana was resenting the Prince Perfect of Greenwood. He had known the state that the Prince had fallen into far sooner than Alíana had found out. It was only a matter of time before she would give up and forget about him...and Gildor would be her only man.

"I knew you would," Alí said with a sigh. Yes, he would beher _only_ man soon enough...

* * *

**A/N: Hands up... who hates me?_ Hooray!_ Well, you'll have to review like all of these nice people for me to update again. ;) (I updated before a month went by... who thinks that deserves applause!) **

**Review Responses:**

**Crecy: LOL! You're hilarious... No! Don't hit Legolas! ;) Muchas gracias for the review! **

**brownie24: It's the plot, my dear. Everybody has to be stupid, or it wouldn't work out! lol! Thanks for the review! **

**Alycia: Hey there, fellow Clam-Baker and Boyfriend-Wanter! Thanks so much for the review... I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! **

**ran: You are AMAZING, girl! That's ALL I have to say! You rock my world with all those reviews! **

**Harmony99: I hope you don't hate me for doing this to Legolas... :0) Lol! We'll have to chat on MSN and you can let me know what you thought about this chapter! Thanks for the review!**

**So... Thank you to all who reviewed (I got a total of 13 reviews... including all those ones from ran... Woo!)and thank you to my new temporary beta Asadi! You saved my BUTT on this one, girl! **

**Much love! ...and you'll see a new chapter SOON! I promise! **

**-Ivy-**


	11. You Are Not My Brother

**A/N: Chapter 11, y'all! Updated in 9 days! I'd say that's a record! Yummy Legolas cookies for everyone who reviewed! ...Anyway, here's the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: Legolas had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb! Legolas had a little lamb, but _sniff sniff_ it'snot mine. :( Just like Legolas, Elladan, Elrohir, Thranduil, etc.! Ali, Rhia, Lili, and Co. are all mine! _muah ha ha _(****The eensy weensy Ali, climbed up the water spout!...)

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**

_**Chapter 11 : "You Are Not My Brother."**_

"Legolas! _Legolas_! LEGOLAS! You lazy lump, get out of bed!"

"Mmph. Go away, Aglar." Legolas rolled over. Why did he have such a headache? And why did his younger brother have to come bothering him so early in the morning?

"No, Legolas. Mother and Father sent me to come and get you. Now get up!" Aglar pulled the blanket off of Legolas and tossed it aside, and Legolas curled up into a fetal position in a primitive response to the rush of cold air.

"Come on, Legolas. Get some clothes on." There was no responding movement from Legolas. "Brother! Do I need to dress you myself? Get out of bed!"

Legolas swung his legs over the bed and sat up, closing his eyes from the shot of pain through his head. He shuffled over to his dresser and selected clothing to dress in. Aglar watched him the whole time, silently thinking about what life would become when he didn't have a drunken whore for a brother. But unfortunately this was the norm. What was Legolas like without a woman in his bed and a wine goblet in his hand? He vaguely remembered a time when he was very young and Legolas hadn't been as bad... but this shell of a life—for it was certainly empty—that Legolas lived now was disgusting and terrible.

Aglar hoped that his mother's idea would work... For the sake of the kingdom, and for the sake of his brother's life.

* * *

"The _guard_!" Legolas roared, not believing what he was hearing. 

"Yes, Legolas," He said calmly and with authority. We're assigning you into Anthion's battalion, where your training with the other recruits starts tomorrow," Thranduil said sternly. His eyes were the only thing that betrayed his pain. He didn't want to have to do this to his son. Legolas' mother, standing beside the king, stared at the ground looking resigned.

Legolas looked between his parents multiple times, appalled that they would still think themselves in control of his life. "You can't send me to the army. I'm way past the age that you can tell me what to do!" Legolas exclaimed, banging his fist on Thranduil's desk.

"You are never too old to ignore the orders of your King," Thranduil said sternly. "You are disgracing our family and ruining yourself, son. If you are as old as you say you are, why do you not act like it? There will be no more conversations. You will leave tomorrow morning with the other recruits. You may leave," Thranduil turned his back on Legolas, his shoulders stiff and his head held tall. Legolas stood in shock for a few moments, his father's words ringing truth but his own ears unwilling to hear it.

Was he really a disgrace to the family? What had he done? Legolas stood up, and with the most venom he could muster he spat, "Yes, my King. I will do as you ask." He put particular emphasis on the word 'King', mocking his father. Then he turned on his heel and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Thranduil sighed heavily, turning to his wife and showing her his sadness. She was equally, if not more affected by her son's obvious hatred.

"It's for the best, _Meleth nin_" (_my love)_ Thranduil assured her, folding her into his strong arms and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"I wish the best could come in a different way," Rhía mumbled into her husband's chest.

"I know, darling. I know."

* * *

Legolas collapsed on his bed, his new bed, exhausted from his day of training. It had been four long days so far, four days full of nonstop running, sword training, knifework, archery, and exercise. 

It had taken two minutes for Legolas to realize that he wasn't going to receive any special or princely treatment. He had a feeling his father had had a hand in ensuring that, and that only made Legolas hate the king more.

And it had taken two minutes _more_ to realize that he was terribly out of shape and out of practice. He hadn't picked up his bow in 300 years and he'd never really wanted to learn how to wield a sword.

And thirty seconds after this while running, Legolas had tripped over a root and landed face first in the mud.

Everybody teased him, everybody taunted him, everybody thought he was a joke. Nobody took him seriously, not _one_ person.

He didn't want to have to, but he realized he had to make his own way in this. He wasn't going to have any help from anyone, not even his own family. _Especially _his family. But he was going to show them that he could do it. He would rise to the top.

* * *

Alí didn't know why, but she started traveling to Greenwood more than usual, even after she'd glanced Legolas in his room with his whores. Despite every conflicting emotion, she felt like something drew her to Greenwood, more than ever. 

Alí felt like she spent her whole life traveling now. She would spend a month or so in Rivendell with her family, and then she would go to Lórien, spend a few weeks there, and then onto Greenwood. She came to realize her love of traveling. She had family wherever she went, and that comforted her.

Her days in Greenwood were spent with Aglar, Legolas' younger brother. He looked just like his mother. She would walk through the forest with Aglar and laugh with him and share stories with him. She felt like he was her brother while Legolas was gone.

And in Rhía, Legolas' mother, she found a second mother. Rhía was so sweet to her. After Alí had started coming regularly, she'd kept a room ready for her all the time. "You're always welcome here, Alíana, my dear... no matter what," she'd said once. Alí felt she could talk to Rhía about anything. And she did. She'd spend long hours chatting and gardening with Queen Rhía (who kept a private garden), or weaving, or sewing, and since Alí had discovered her natural healing abilities, she'd been studying the different herbs in Greenwood. There were many of them; much more than in Lórien.

But Alí also spent time helping around the palace. She particularly loved the aroma-filled kitchens. Many of the maids had long since given up telling her she couldn't help because of her social status. They said it was nice to have company so eager to help out. She loved the women who worked in the kitchens like her own family.

One day Alí was helping prepare a dinner, chopping up potatoes and carrots and letting the gossip of the women go in one ear and out the other. Then Analynn, a rather young addition to the "Kitchen-dwellers", came rushing down the stone stairs, beaming from ear to ear.

"What is it, Analynn?" Gaerin asked. Gaerin was one of the oldest and most experienced of the servants in the palace. Everyone knew and respected her.

"I just saw!" she said happily. "The Prince is back!" Alí felt herself stiffen at this. "He's back from his training, he's been gone two years! And he's... he's..."

"Still an ass, I'll bet!" supplied Gildae darkly, though laughter sparkled in her eyes.

"Probably," Another elf agreed.

"Oh, even if he is, he's _gorgeous!_" Analynn sighed. Clearly she was smitten with Legolas.

"He's always been _gorgeous_, Ana," Gildae said.

"Yes, but he's even more so now," Analynn assured everyone.

Alí set down her knife and took off her apron. "If he's back, I'm leaving," she said rather stubbornly, staring at the ground. Anywhere but at her friends.

"But Alíana, I thought you wanted to reconcile with Prince Legolas," Gaerin said, touching Alí's arm lightly and peering into her eyes. Alí's eyes were bright with tears that threatened to fall.

"I do, Gaerin, but... but I'm just not ready to," she explained. "I'm going to go say goodbye to Rhía, Aglar, and Thranduil, and collect my things. I'll be back soon enough," she assured. She kissed Gaerin's cheek. "Goodbye, girls," she smiled at them all, hurrying up the steps and all the way to her room.

She hated leaving so suddenly, but she couldn't face Legolas, not now. Not when she wasn't sure about how she wanted to react to him, what she wanted to say. '_The least they could have done was warn me... give me a two-day head start,_' she thought as she slipped her traveling clothing on and hung up her dress in her closet. She put what she wanted in her saddlebags and slung them over her shoulder.

She peeked into Aglar's room and said goodbye. He said he understood why she was leaving, and would write to her in Lórien about what happened. She kissed his cheek lightly, and left to go to find Rhía. She wasn't in her garden, so Alí headed to Thranduil's office. She knocked and Thranduil called "Enter." Alí pushed the door open.

Thranduil was sitting behind his desk, and alongside him was Rhía. In front of them was a familiar blonde head.

The blonde head turned and brown eyes stared at her. "Alí?" Legolas gasped.

Alí's eyes grew wide. He was _here?_ She should have know better than to come and say goodbye... he was bound to be with his parents... She turned on her heel and bolted; it was the first thing she could think of to do.

"Wait, Alíana!" she could hear Rhía calling, and Legolas' voice melded with his mother's. It was so much deeper than last time Alí had heard it.

Alí ran as fast as she could; ran to the stables and jumped on her horse. She was riding it out of the stable when she saw his body blocking the doorway. She kept her eyes on her hands, and said, "Move, Prince."

"Alí," Legolas said simply, pleadingly. "Will you not look at your brother?"

"Are you my brother, Prince?" Alí challenged. "Are you my brother when you do not write? Are you my brother when you do not love me? When you are a whore and forget who you are, who you promised you would always be? You are _not_ my brother, Prince, not anymore. And you are in my way," Alí said coolly. She looked up, and her blue eyes met with Legolas' brown ones. Tears formed in her eyes.

"As you wish, my Lady," Legolas said, his voice equally as distant. He moved to the side and as she passed, she caught a glance what was around his neck. Her locket. Tears started streaming down her face, and she forced her horse to gallop away.

The forest night was silent, except for her sobs.

* * *

Legolas watched her leave, the first time he'd seen his sister in a thousand years. He watched her flee from him. Her words stung like a slap to the face. Legolas had endured taunting and insults and rigorous military training for the last two years, but nothing he had endured during that time compared to the rejection and loss he felt now. 

"I _do_ love you... come back, sister," Legolas pleaded with the rapidly shrinking form of Alíana and her horse.

Legolas went over to his horse, Elwea, and stroked the mare's neck. "What was I thinking, _mellon nin_? Why did I voluntarily give up what was closest to my heart?"

Legolas unclasped the necklace with the locket from around his neck. He opened the tiny heart and peered at the faded picture; tiny little Alíana, and a tiny vision of himself behind her with his arms around her. The picture so faded that most of the color was gone from it.

Elwea whinnied emphatically, so obvious as to get his attention. "What are you trying to tell me?" Elwea snorted and shook her head. A fly or two zoomed away from her cream-colored head. "Are you trying to say I should go after her?" These thoughts were so tempting that he started to reach for his saddle. He stopped. "Tomorrow, mellon nin. Tonight I want to rest... You'll get your good run tomorrow, I promise." Legolas hoped he didn't regret this decision.

* * *

Late that night, Legolas stared at the ceiling thinking about Alíana, about what had happened so long ago. What had possessed him to stop writing to Alí? What had he been _thinking_? 

"I wasn't," Legolas realized aloud. He _hadn't_ been thinking... that was the problem. He hadn't been thinking about what would happen if he stopped writing to Alí. He hadn't seen what terrible damage it would bring. But, of course, what kind of knowledge does a teenager have of making decisions? He had been, after all, only sixteen at the time.

'_That's no excuse,'_ his mind told him firmly. And it wasn't, he realized. He should have had some sense.

"The past is the past," Legolas said out loud. And now he held his future in his hands, and he wasn't going to let it slip away this time.

* * *

Alí and Gildor strolled through the enormous _mellyrn_ in silence. Alí was thinking of how peaceful it was with Gildor by her side. There was no grief associated with him and she enjoyed the peace of her life in his arms. 

"Do you know that I love you?" Alí said, breaking the comfortable silence. Gildor turned his depthless eyes, eyes she could easily drown in, and smiled a little.

"I think I know that," he said, pressing a light kiss on her lips. Alí beamed. Yes... every one of her problems was chased away when she was around Gildor. "Do you know that I love you?" he repeated her question.

"Show me," she whispered. Gildor kissed her again. Deeply, passionately, the kind of kiss that leaves you weak at the knees and makes your head swim.

"Alí, I want to ask you something," Gildor said, holding her tightly against him. Alí was glad for his support. She didn't think she could stand without his support. She nuzzled her nose into his neck.

"What? Do you want me to go with you to the Dell? What is it?" she asked, pulling back and looking into his eyes again.

"Well... in a way, yes. I want you to go with me wherever I go... and I want to take you everywhere as my wife," he said. He produced a plain silver band from his shirt pocket and let it hover in front of her finger. "Alíana Halfelven... Will you be my wife?" he asked, his voice full of sincerity.

Alí gasped. _Wife!_ It was too soon, they were too young, she didn't know what to do.

She shoved every doubt aside, and remembered how wonderful and secure life around Gildor was. "I will be your wife," she answered. "But will you be my husband?" It was customary to ask this among the elves.

"I think I could do that," Gildor smiled. He slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed her again.

The moment was everything that Alí could have ever wanted and imagined. Perfect, passionate, sincere... but why did part of her still think it was a bad idea?

* * *

**A/N: I'm still laughing at the bit my beta left me at the end of this chapter: **

**_P.S. if she marries him I'll kill you._**

**Good luck with that, Asadi! **

**Anyway, who hates me _now_?**

**Not these people: **

**brownie24, Harmony99, ran, & Elfwishwonder. Sorry, guys... Gildor isn't going to die! He's actually going to butt his ugly head into the story fora while:) Hah! **

**Keep a button company... push the little "Review"button at the bottom! Make an person happy... type a note in the little box! **

**Much love!**

**-Ivy**


	12. Waiting for Her

**A/N: Hola, everyone! I believe I abandoned you all for a while, but never fear! I'm here again! I don't have much to say,except enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: _weep_. It ain't mine.**

* * *

**_Chapter 12 : Waiting For Her_**

Lauralin never expected to see Legolas again. After 3 years or so, she'd given up any hope she had... hope of going back to Earth and hope of seeing her favorite brother. She hadn't wanted to admit it at the time, but she missed him.

So she definitely had been stumped when he climbed up onto her balcony one summer afternoon.

"Oh damn it..." he muttered, slipping and falling onto his rear. "Wrong room." He stood up and proceeded to throw his leg over the balcony railing when he turned around and saw who was in the room.

"Eru save us," he stared at Lauralin. "Is that you, Laur?"

"Uh, yeah," she said, hand on her hip. "And what have you been doing this last millennia? Have you no time to spare to come visit your sisters?"

Legolas rushed over to her and embraced her, lifting her and twirling her around. "Not a spare moment, I assure you... I haven't been myself," he smiled. "You've really grown up, sister!"

"And you," she said when he put her down. "Where did _these_ come from?" she asked, feeling his muscled arm.

"I could ask the same thing about _these_," he pocked one of her breasts. Lauralin smacked his arm.

"Excuse me, Prince, but these are mine!" she accused with a smile.

Legolas hugged her again. "Come and take me to see mother. I need to do some major apologizing." They walked out of her room.

"You've been busy, or so I've heard." Lauralin had heard of the naughty business Legolas had gotten into, and it was something she wanted to bring up but not known how.

"Hey, I'm not proud of that," Legolas said, hanging his head shamefully and avoiding all eye contact.

"I'm sorry," Lauralin quickly apologized.

"You don't have to be." Legolas stared at his feet as they walked. An awkward silence ensued, during which Legolas stared at his feet and Lauralin surveyed her brother's face. He had grown even more handsome than she'd ever expected. She could see the pain in his eyes, plain as day. He was ashamed, she realized, and he wanted to do something to make the pain go away.

Legolas felt her gaze and looked up into her face. She was so different. She had her father's face and her mother's clear blue eyes. Her hair was a darker, more honeyed blonde than Alí's, and she seemed slightly shorter than Alí... not that Legolas had gotten a good look at Alí recently; she'd been running too quickly. She didn't seem quite as arrogant and spoiled as when she was a child... but Legolas sensed that she could probably command a room like her Grandfather could.

"Laur... your sister isn't here, is she?" Legolas asked tentatively.

"No, she isn't," Lauralin sighed. "But she's due in a week or two."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she travels on a cycle... or at least most of the time she does," Lauralin explained. "She spends 4 months in either Lórien or Greenwood... then she'll come home for a month or two, and then she'll be back on her horse and off to Lórien. She never likes to stay in one place for long.

"She loves Greenwood most, I think. She comes home and talks endlessly about your home, your family, your reputation. She misses you, more than you could imagine, and you've made it so the only way she can know you is through your home and your family," Lauralin and Legolas had stopped walking and were now facing each other in the hallway.

Legolas was about to respond, say _something_ that would make the reality of those words seem less true, when he heard a familiar voice speak up. "Laur, who's that with you?" Liliana's voice floated through the hall. Legolas turned, and she stopped dead.

"Valar..." she whispered. "I thought we'd lost you, Legolas."

"In a way, you did, Mother," Legolas said heavily. Liliana rushed forward to hug him, and said,

"It's been much too long, Son." She smiled at him.

"I know," Legolas said. He saw his Liliana's eyes grow bright, "Don't cry, I'm sorry, Mother."

"Oh this is wonderful, I'm going to go and have your room readied," she sniffed. "Laur, take Legolas to the kitchen and get him some food. You must be starving," she said to Legolas.

"I always am. You know me and my appetite!" Legolas winked.

"I'm good something hasn't changed," Liliana smiled up at him. Legolas heard a tone he couldn't identify underlying her voice. It contained both relief and admonishment.

"It's one of the few things that haven't," Legolas said sadly. Liliana rushed off in the other direction.

"Come on, brother," Lauralin tugged on Legolas' elbow.

"I'm coming," Legolas said.

* * *

Legolas could not sleep. His thoughts churned, trying to process the information that Lauralin had offered him all day. Alíana loved to travel. She loved Greenwood. She loved his parents, his brother, his life... but what about him? Did she still love Legolas?

"I've messed this up," Legolas said. He rose from the bed and walked out onto his balcony. He took a deep breath and inhaled the fragrant summer air. "I've messed this up, and how I need to fix it." If there was one thing he'd learned recently, it was responsibility. He wouldn't give up until Alí was his sister again.

* * *

Alí stabled her horse in the Rivendell stables. She smiled and stretched, enjoying that homecoming feeling that she only got when arriving in Rivendell. She might spend most of the year away from the Dell, but she missed its homely air, and the feeling of unity and celebration that accompanied the hustle and bustle of daily life. She never tired of that feeling.

She was home earlier than expected, but because of her new engagement, she had to spend a year away from Gildor. She would spend the year in Rivendell, and he in Lórien.

"Sister! You're home!" exclaimed Lauralin when Alí knocked on her door. "Quickly, come inside. I have to show you something!" she ushered Alí inside her room.

Lauralin's room was cluttered with papers and paints. She'd discovered how art came quite naturally to her, and she used it as a way of connecting with her old life. She painted portraits for elves who requested it, but her real love was simply sketching. She delighted in creating things from her memory; a computer on a desk, a traffic light, the lamppost in front of their old house. She drew anything that came to her, and brought it to life again.

Lauralin thrust a pencil sketch into Alí's face, and Alí peered at it. It brought immediate tears to her eyes. It was a sketch of the picture in her locket. The locket she gave to Legolas when...

"Laur, this is amazing," Alí said breathlessly. She felt very guilty about what she'd said to Legolas... but all of the pain of the last millennium had been shoved into one minute, one statement; she'd panicked.

"I wish I could make things better between us," she sighed. It was something she'd said a million times.

"You can make things better. Time heals, sister," Lauralin supplied, taking the sketch and setting it down on her bed.

"But..." it also kills. Alí stopped herself before she could finish the statement. She'd thought this for a long time, and the situation between herself and Legolas only proved this to her.

"But, nothing. Now go and have a bath and then you'll feel better _and_ smell nice." Lauralin ushered her sister through the door that connected the sisters' rooms.

Alí went docilely and Lauralin called for a servant to bring hot water for her. She set her bags down and laid down on her bed. Why was it that as soon as she thought she was safe from plaguing thoughts of Legolas, he would suddenly spring up and catch her off guard? Couldn't she go anywhere that Legolas wasn't?

She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew a servant was shaking her. "Miss Alíana, your bath is ready," the girl said quietly.

Alí blinked and sat up. "Thank you," she said. The girl disappeared and Alí stripped off her clothing and then sank into her tub in her bathroom.

She peered at her hand sleepily. There was a silver ring there. It mocked her, she thought. It glittered in the candlelight. It fooled with her; made her realize that she was committed to one elf, Gildor, forever. She knew it was all she ever wanted. She wanted this. She wanted this. She wanted this.

She...didn't know.

She stepped out of the tub, dripping water everywhere, and walked into her room, slipping the ring off her finger. She took two even strides over to her wardrobe and located a pocket in a dress. She slipped it in there and closed the door of the wardrobe.

Nobody had to know about the engagement yet. She would simply not tell anyone until she felt the time was right.

* * *

Lauralin knocked on Legolas' door. He opened it, casually dressed and tousle-haired.

"Were you asleep?" Lauralin asked.

"Um… yeah," Legolas said, yawning.

"Why? Oh, never mind. Alíana is back," Lauralin whispered.

"She is?" Legolas smiled. "Oh this is great," he started to push past, to go into the hallway. He obviously wanted to see her.

"No, Legolas. Not yet. She's rather upset," Lauralin said guiltily.

"Sister, what did you do?" Legolas asked flatly.

"I showed her my drawing. I wanted to see her reaction. She feels _really_ guilty about…oh, everything. I could see it in her eyes," Lauralin explained. "And I wanted to tell you… I don't know, really. Be gentle with her. She seems really… I dunno… emotionally unbalanced. There's more going on in her head than she lets on."

Legolas looked confused, but muttered, "Okay." Lauralin said goodbye, and Legolas went back into his room and sat on his bed.

Be gentle? He wasn't _planning_ on being rough. What kind of caution is that? How was he going to see _and _talk to Alí without her turning the other cheek?

How could he do it with as little pain as possible?

* * *

Alí knocked on the wood of the doorway to the stables, announcing her presence to her uncle Elladan.

"Alí! I'd heard you were home," Elladan smiled. He set down the brush he was using to groom his horse and embraced her.

"Word must travel fast," Alí smiled. "Were you talking to someone? I heard voices," she asked.

"On, no. I was just speaking to Clebroh, here," Elladan said, patting his horse on its neck.

"And was he responding?" Alí said suspiciously. "I'm pretty sure there was more than just your voice."

"No, it's just me here," Elladan assured. Alí surveyed her uncle closely.

"Alright, if you say so, Uncle," Alí said. "I just wanted to say 'hello'. I'll see you later Uncle Elladan." Alí turned and walked away, throwing a suspicious glance or two over her shoulder. Once Elladan saw she'd disappeared into a building, he visibly relaxed.

"You can come down now, it's all clear," he called up into the hay-filled rafters.

"Good!" came the muffled reply. A blonde elf dropped from the rafters, spitting hay out of his mouth. Elladan chuckled.

"I'm afraid I still don't understand why you won't let her see you," Elladan said. He picked a piece of hay out of Legolas' hair for him.

"Thank you," Legolas said, running his fingers through his blonde hair and finding more pieces of straw. "I just can't. She can't see me yet, or I'm afraid she'll never speak to me again. I have to give her time... and I am worried," Legolas confessed.

"Do not be," Elladan said with a small smile. "She will forgive you," he assured.

"Thank you, Elladan." Legolas left the stables and started the familiar trek to his room. He began to sing an old song and as he rounded a bend, he came face to face with Alí.

She was staring right at him, and she was white as snow.

"You," she said softly, vehemently. "You follow me. You hunt me. Why won't you leave me alone?"

* * *

**A/N: Muah ha ha! Rather evil cliffie, ain't it? More coming soon, if I can convince my writers block to go away! _cry_.**

**Thanks to Nilimade, Harmony99, and Brownie24 for reviewing! You all get Elladan cookies! _passes them out._**

**-Ivy **

**6/18/06**


	13. Chasing Forgiveness

**A/N: Bonjour, all! Long authors note at the bottom... **

**Disclaimer: Ali's mine! Hooray!**

* * *

_**Chapter 13 : Chasing Forgiveness**_

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Alí yelled. "You followed me here, didn't you?" she accused.

"I did not follow you, I arrived a week ago! You can ask your sister," Legolas replied defensively, feeling his fear consuming him. Would she forgive him? It certainly didn't seem so, the way this conversation was going already.

"Leave me alone, Prince," Alí spat, turning and trying to walk away.

"Please don't walk away this time, Alí. I want to apologize," Legolas begged with her back. She turned, pressing her back into the wall, giving him a profile view and not facing him.

"I _need_ you to forgive me," Legolas said. He chanced a step toward her, and Alí scooted farther along the wall.

"Why are you here?" She asked coolly, softly, not hiding the fact that she did not want this conversation to happen.

"I am here to apologize to you," Legolas felt repetitive. "I am here to make my amends," he added softly. "I have been awful to everyone... including you. Especially you, sister" he added.

He saw Alí's lips form the word "sister", and she turned her face away from him.

"Why did you stop writing to me?" she asked in an unattached voice. "Do you hate me?"

"If I hated you, would I be here now?" Legolas asked. "I didn't stop writing because I didn't love you. I stopped writing because..." he sighed. It was time to confess what he'd never said aloud. "I was jealous. I was angry. I didn't want to be second to anyone in your life, and your first was Gildor..." He walked to her, step by step, but she still would not look at him.

"I'm not proud of my life, and I am trying to fix what I have selfishly demolished... it is hard to build from ruins." He stepped even closer, to where he was right next to her. He could see that she was silently crying. "And I cannot live without your forgiveness, sister."

Alí broke down, sliding down the wall and putting her head between her knees and crying. "You are so stupid," she sobbed. "I'm so stupid..." Legolas slid down beside her and put his arms around her.

"I am, sister..." he agreed. She put her head on his shoulder and cried.

"Please don't leave me again," she said softly.

"I won't... Never again."

This time, he told himself, he would keep his promise.

* * *

Alí climbed on the roof, laid on the smooth beams, and stared at the stars. She scorned herself for breaking down in front of Legolas. She knew she looked weak... but as tough as she wanted to look, something in Legolas' voice had plucked at her heartstrings. 

She hadn't forgiven him yet. She hadn't said those words... she needed more time.

* * *

A week passed, during which Alí and Legolas did not speak to each other. They met eyes when they passed in the hallways, they lifted a hand in greeting when they were in the same room together, but they said nothing to each other... 

And they didn't know how to change it. They didn't know how to make their situation better, and they slowly drifted apart.

Legolas did not want that. He didn't want the silence. He hadn't traveled leagues upon leagues to experience a silence so painful it was like breaking your leg in six places.

So he left.

In the night, he gathered his belongings, mounted his horse, and left Rivendell to begin his journey home.

* * *

Alí woke to a sunny day with a refreshed heart and mind. She was going to find Legolas and apologize... and forgive him. 

But when she knocked on his door, there was no response. And when she opened the door, there was nothing in the room; just an empty wardrobe and a hastily made bed. She rushed around speaking to people, and nobody had seen him. Had he left? _No_... not when she wanted to talk to him!

In a flurry of quick decisions, she went to the stables and found the fastest horse, her Uncle Elladan's horse, Celebroh, mounted it, and rode to the Rivendell border. She spoke to the guard on duty.

"Who passed here last night?" She demanded. The guard looked momentarily shocked.

"I assume you want to know if the Prince left. He did, milady, early in the morning, at least four hours before _Anor_ rose this day," he replied tentatively.

"Thank you, sir," Alí said. She spurred Celebroh and the horse started to trot... gallop... sprint.

"I hope he isn't too far ahead," Alí's voice was lost on the wind as she and the horse sped across the plain. She rode on for hours, but she worried.

How much time had she gained with her sprint? Perhaps she _could_ catch him.

* * *

Legolas practically fell off his horse as he stopped to make camp that night. It was about an hour until _Anor_ would set, and Legolas had ridden all through the day. He gathered a small amount of wood for a small fire and sat on the ground beside it, enjoying the growing warmth as the air cooled. 

As he nibbled on a piece of dried meat he had taken from the kitchens on his way out, he spotted a rider coming his way. They were on an elvish horse, and the figure looked definitely female. In a momentary mind lapse, he wondered whether she was young and unmarried.

But those shameful thoughts were soon chased away by his recognition of the maiden.

* * *

Alí got what she wanted. She'd caught up to him... but now what? 

"Hello," Legolas said first, staring at the fire. So he _had_ noticed her.

"Hi..." Alí replied, biting her lip... It was too late to flee.

"Want to sit down?" Legolas offered her the dirt beside him.

"No thank you..." Alí gathered her courage in a shaky breath. "Look, Legolas. I never apologized to _you_ and I obviously had my part in this... everything... and I wanted to say that I'm sorry for doubting you and I'm sorry for running away every time you tried to speak with me. It was very childish of me," Alí stood very still for a moment, during which she chewed on her lip, searching for any sign of response from Legolas. "And I accept your apology, from before. I just hope that you forgive me," Alí kept biting her lip nervously. A long moment passed.

"I wouldn't think of rejecting your apology in a thousand years," Legolas said warmly. He stood up and they embraced tightly. Alí's nerves calmed down instantly. "Now come and eat with me." Legolas and Alí sat down and ate together. The tension was gone, and the awkwardness evaporated. The siblings laughed and talked and spoke of sweeter times.

When the stars began to appear in the sky, Legolas laid back on the ground, using his pack like a pillow. He patted his stomach. Alí hesitated for a moment, and then put her head there just as they used to do so long ago.

Everything was good, and both were at peace.

"I missed you," Alí admitted. "I went to Greenwood to find you, but when I did, I didn't like what I saw... so I fled."

"I don't blame you," Legolas said dryly. "I really am a disgusting elf," he commented. There was a long pause. "This is when you disagree with me," he whispered comically. Alí giggled.

"Now why would I do that?" she asked playfully.

"Because you love me?" Legolas tried.

"That I do," Alí agreed.

* * *

**A/N: Good chapter? Better ending this time? Hah. Yeah, last chapter wasn't very nice of me. :)**

**So here I have some stuff to say in response to a review I got...**

**Some of you might notice that my story has some Grelvish in the beginning, as well as in the title. Sorry guys, but that's staying the same. I make a habit of _not_ going back and changing what I've written once it's been posted. It shows me, and the world, that I grow as an author. I learn things all the time and that affects my style of writing immensely.**

**Everything I do, every choice I make about straying away from canon is on purpose. Seriously, I know that elves aren't prostitutes. But this story wouldn't be anything like the way it is if Legolas couldn't be a whore, right? (Excuse my language).I'm not the only one to make a background for him that includes a lot of flippant merrymaking.**

**Nicknames. Yes, I know that Hobbits are the only ones who really used nicknames in canon, but Ali, Legolas, and Lauralin grew up in Earth, in case everyone's forgotten. They had a lot of human influence, and we definately do the nickname thing.**

**In regards to my turning Rivendell's hierarchy into a royalty... I did that on _purpose_. I know that Ali should not be a princess, but for the record, this is _fanfiction_, and I have the right to make her a princess if I want. I'm not the only one who does it.**

**I _know_ Mirkwood has no palace. I considered writing it like canon and making the palace underground, and I believe I've mentioned that it has a lot of underground rooms (at least I thought about mentioning it...) but for the record, I'm also not the first one to "mess up" Mirkwood's royal home.**

**In regards to Ali learning how to fight, must I mention the Earth connections again? She has had a lot of human influence, and she probably saw that women were equal to men, knowing and fighting in wars on Earth. There's nothing wrong with wanting a little girl power, right? Ali's an independant elf, as she proves many times. Also, her Aunt Arwen has a sword and knows how to use it. Arwen has a large influence on Ali, whether she likes it or not. If gentle Arwen knew how to fight, then Ali would probably follow in those steps.**

**I know that Elrohir would have been a better choice for teaching Ali how to ride. But Elladan is Elrohir's twin and would probably have an equal gift with horses. AlsoElrohir, I might mention, is Ali's father and Elladan is her uncle. Personally, I listen to what my relatives say more than my parents. It was a nice oppurtunity for Ali and her Uncle to bond.**

**I'm sorry if any of this sounds defensive, it's not meant in that way at all. This note was just for the purposes of explaining my motives of where I stray from canon and where stick to it.**

**Glorfindel cookies for everone who reviewed!**

**-Ivy**

**6/27/06**


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